After
by obsessiveryleyfan
Summary: Twenty five years after high school, Marley finds herself with two children, her husband Ryder and living pretty well. But that perfection comes stops when the family goes back to Ohio for a high school reunion. Sorry, I suck a summaries. Rated T just to be safe. Mostly Ryley with some other pairings too. I added some Dance Moms, but not enough to be considered a crossover.
1. The Babysitter

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to the genius Ryan Murphy and anyone who says anything different is a liar**

* * *

"Auntie Sana," my three year old daughter Olivia cried excitedly, just as the doorbell rang. Her little feet pattered against the wood floor as she ran to open the front door.

"Make sure you check who it is," I called, which is what I had been working on with her. I heard her asking through the door if Santana was a stranger or not and laughed to myself, "You can let her in now honey."

"Hi Auntie Sana," Olivia said excitedly, hugging her knees.

"Hi Livi," Santana said, picking Olivia up, "So where are you and Beiber boy going to?" I rolled my eyes.

"Some Chinese place I think, but I honestly have no idea," I replied

"That is exactly right," called a voice from behind me. I turned around to see my husband Ryder.

"What is," I asked.

"That I have no idea. You can pick," He replied. He turned to Santana, "We'll probably be back around eight thirty or nine."

"Josh is in his room," I added on. Josh is my thirteen year old son, "For dinner, just make peanut butter sandwiches or something. Remember Olivia's allergic to tomatoes and that includes ketchup."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Really, because the last time she had tomatoes, you gave her ketchup on her chicken nuggets and we got a call from the hospital half an hour later"

"I've got this under control,"

"Okay," I said skeptically. "Bye Livi. Be nice for Auntie Sana." I gave her a hug

"I will mommy. Bye bye daddy." Ryder gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh I forgot to ask you," Santana said, "if you got the invitation for the reunion in the mail." I walked over to the stack of mail on the kitchen table and sorted through the pile until I found the envelope. I opened it and raised my eyebrows.

"A high school reunion," I asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Santana said, "I think we should go. I mean we haven't seen anyone for like twenty five years. Did you know that everyone from the glee club got married to each other? Wow that sounded weird."

"Yeah it did," Ryder butted in, "But we got what you meant. The card says that kids are welcome. We should go. All of us." At that moment we heard a crash from the living room, followed by Olivia's sobs. I looked over to see her on the floor next to a chair on its side. Ryder went over and picked her up.

"Santana, you were supposed to be watching her," I said

"My duties don't start until you leave, therefor; you were supposed to be watching her. So are you guys going to go?"

"Maybe," I replied, "We have to go though, so we will discuss it. In the meantime, please actually watch Olivia." Ryder handed a still sniffling Olivia to Santana. I gave Olivia one last kiss on the cheek and walked out the door with Ryder.

* * *

**Chapter 2 Preview: Marley and Ryder go on their date and make an important decision.**


	2. The Decision

** I am just warning readers, it isn't like me to post multiple times a day. I will however, attempt to update every other day.**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Glee?**

* * *

"So what do you think of this reunion thing," Ryder asked, "I think we should go. It would be fun to see everybody again."

"I kind of want to go too," I replied, "I want to see who everyone is married to, unless Santana just said that to get us to come, which is highly likely." Ryder laughed.

"I wonder if Rachel ever got married, "Ryder said, "I mean she loved Finn and she doesn't seem like the kind of person to do that to herself."

"I don't know which makes me want to go even more."

"Okay, so we know that Santana and Puck are married obviously. I'm pretty sure that Sam and Brittany got married. They're perfect for each other."

"Maybe Quinn and Sam. I heard they dated in high school," I said.

"Who did you hear that from – wait, let me guess. Santana," Ryder said.

"Yeah. So we're going to go?"

"Yeah," Ryder replied.

* * *

"We're home," I called

"MOMMY," screeched Olivia. I cringed. Usually Santana was able to put Olivia to bed. If she wasn't able to tonight, it must have been really bad. Ryder grabbed Olivia and swung her upside down, making her burst into a fit of giggles.

"Thank God. I thought you guys would never get here," Santana said, "This kid is insane. Josh is incredible. I didn't hear from him all night. He texted me his dinner order."

"What did you do to her," Ryder asked, flipping Olivia back so she was facing the right way again.

"I didn't realize that she had put extra whipped cream on her ice cream until I saw how much of it had ended up on her face and it all went downhill from there."

"Well that usually does it," Ryder said as Olivia yawned and buried her face in Ryder's neck, "I'll go put her to bed. Say goodbye to Auntie Sana."

"Bye Bye," Olivia said and gave her a hug

"Bye sweetie," Santana said, kissing her on the cheek, "Goodnight."

As Ryder walked with Olivia to her bedroom Santana asked, "So did you decide to come to the reunion?"

"Yeah. We thought it would be fun to see everybody again," I replied.

"Cool. Well, it's two weekends from now, which should give you enough time to tell Abby that Olivia can't come to the dance competition."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

"You know, I could just take Olivia to dance that day and tell Abby myself."

"I don't want Olivia kicked off the team though, which is exactly what would happen if you got into an argument with Abby."

"Fine. Let's compromise. We both take her to dance and we both tell her," Santana said pleadingly. She's been dying to talk to Abby, ever since the time where she made Olivia cry at her dance class. Santana is pretty protective over Olivia.

"Okay," I replied, no matter how skeptical I was about it. It doesn't do any good to argue with Santana.

* * *

**Chapter 3 preview: Santana and Marley attempt to tell Abby Lee Miller that Olivia couldn't attend her dance competition which, knowing Santana, should go great**.


	3. The Dance Class

**Disclaimer: I don't own glee, if I did the entire show would be pure Ryley fluff.**

* * *

"We're here honey," I said to Olivia, "go on in. I just have to talk to Santana.

"Ok," she replied and I watched her hop out of the car and inside the studio.

"I already have feeling what you're going to say to me, so I promise that I won't get Olivia kicked off the competition team," Santana said.

"I know you don't want to, but Olivia has worked really hard and I don't want her to lose her spot."

"She won't."

* * *

"GIRLS. GET IN HERE," yelled Abby. Olivia followed her friends from dance into studio C with the moms close behind, "Girls, we have a guest today. This is Santana, Marley's friends." The girls said hello and Santana nodded in response.

"On to the pyramid, last week, you guys did well in Ohio and you beat Candy Apples, but cute obviously still works in Ohio. I saw many flaws in the technique, but we beat the Wicked Witch. Bottom on the pyramid is Brooke. You are an amazing dancer, but you don't put the effort in honey," out of the corner of my eye I saw Kelly nodding in agreement, "Nia. You were good in the group and you didn't pull my eyes negatively, but you didn't draw my eyes positively either. Kendall. Again, great in the group, but your face is frozen in a smile the whole number. You have to work on your expressions. Mackenzie, you weren't here, so there wasn't anything to judge you on," my heart skipped a beat. Olivia is usually on the bottom row of the pyramid, "Maddie, I gave you a solo and you were late to the stage. There isn't much more I can say. Chloe, I gave you a solo and you were good, but you stumbled a bit on a leap. Even so, you should have gotten first. Second is the first one to lose. Keep that in your head. Paige. I put you in a higher age division and you place third. You should be proud of yourself. And finally, Olivia," Everybody clapped and hugged Olivia. All the moms were smiling and applauding as well, though that may be because Maddie wasn't on top, "I gave you your first solo ever and you win first. I am so proud of you. You have grown so much as a dancer." Olivia smile was so wide.

"This week we will be attending in10sity dance competition. I decided that everyone is going to have a solo, be in a duet and a trio and be in the group."

"Abby," Christi said, "do you realize how much you are overworking the girls. They have a week to learn four numbers each."

"But they don't," Abby said, "We will be perfecting old numbers, preferably ones that didn't win first. Olivia will be the only one learning a new solo because she has only done one. Brooke, you will be doing your Metamorphosis solo, Nia, I want you to do Baila, Kendall is going to do Kiss Kiss, Mackenzie is doing Dancing Barefoot, Maddie is doing Helen Keller, Chloe is doing Mother, Paige is doing Gemini, and Olivia's new solo is called I Like to Fuss. For trios, Maddie, Brooke and Olivia are doing Somebody Told Me and Nia, Chloe and Kendall are doing Castaways and Mackenzie, Paige and Payton are going to do Girl Fun. Before the moms freak out, I'm only bringing in Payton for the trio so we have the right amount of people. For duets, Maddie and Olivia are doing Run from Mother, Nia and Kendall are doing Dig It, Mackenzie and Chloe are doing My Doll and Brooke and Paige are doing Ooh La La. The group is On the Verge. Moms, you can go now." I walked out of the studio and up to the watch room.

"What does it mean when Olivia is on the top of the pyramid," Santana asked.

"It means the she was the best overall for this week," Christi said, "and that spot is usually reserved for Maddie." I saw Melissa roll her eyes.

* * *

"Should we go talk to Abby now," I asked Santana as I saw the girls walk out of the studio for a break.

"What about," Jill asked.

"Our high school reunion is next weekend and I said that we would go. Josh and Liv are going to come too."

"Wait, you guys went to high school together," Christi asked.

"Kind of. I graduated a year before she came but I mentored her for glee club," Santana butted in. I winced. They didn't really know that I did glee club.

"No way," Jill said, "You did glee club?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I liked it. We were basically the misfits of the school and we were slushied on a regular basis."

"Slushied?"

"It basically means that we got slushies' dumped over us."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Santana said, "We should go tell her." Santana and I got up and walked down. My heart was racing in my chest. I poked my head in the studio.

"Can I talk to you Abby," I asked

"Yeah. Come on in. Shoes off," she replied. I slipped off my shoes and Santana followed suit.

"I don't think Olivia is going to be able to go to the classes next week," I said

"Why," Abby asked

"Ryder and I are going to our high school reunion and the kids can come too."

"Okay. I appreciate you giving me some notice. She's going to have to make sure she practices, even if you guys are way. I don't want her to lose that flexibility."

"Okay, thank you," I said as I walked out, "I guess you didn't need to come, Santana." She rolled her eyes.

* * *

"OLIVIA," Abby yelled, "DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN IN YOUR HEAD? I SAID LEAP LEFT AND YOU LEAPED RIGHT. STOP BEING THE CHOREOGRAPHER AND LISTEN." By this time, I was used to Abby yelling at Olivia and I didn't think much of it, especially during group rehearsals, but I could feel how tense Santana was becoming.

"OLIVIA, YOU NEED TO COUNT THE MUSIC. YOUR TURNS ARE SLOPPY. THIS ISN'T FIRST PLACE EFFORT. DON'T MAKE ME REGRET PUTTING YOU IN THIS NUMBER. REMEMBER, EVERYONE'S REPLACEABLE AND AT THIS POINT, I'M ON THE VERGE OF REPLACING YOU." I saw the tears tricking down Olivia's face.

"That's it," Santana said and stormed downstairs. I groaned, but decided not to follow her downstairs. It's probably safer for me up here.

"You cannot treat a three year old like that," Santana yelled. We could hear her from up here, "It's called child abuse. My husband is a lawyer and I can send him down here." I raised my eyebrows. Puck is not a lawyer, he is a guitar teacher down at the local music store, but that's Santana for you.

"I can say whatever I want because it's what I'm paid for," Abby said calmly.

"Then maybe we should just take Olivia somewhere else." Abby looked up at me and I silently shook my head, making the other moms laugh.

"Girls, ignore her and keep rehearsing," Abby said, turning the music up louder, even though we could still hear Santana shout a mix of English and Spanish through the floorboards.

* * *

**So this chapter is probably really confusing. Olivia's dance level is that of Sophia Lucia's when she was four, which is why I gave her that solo. For the other routines, I switched people in and out of numbers just to make it work. They are all real numbers that the girls did, but the people in them are not accurate. The links for the routines are in my bio. **

**Chapter 4 Preview: Olivia has her dance competition and the Lynn family leaves for Ohio**


	4. The Trip

** Sorry for the late at night update. I wasn't able to get access to a computer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. That rightfully belongs to Ryan Murphy **

* * *

"Hey," A voice called behind me, "Sorry we're late." I turned around to see Santana and Puck, with their kids, sixteen year old Sephora, thirteen year old Natalie, and eleven year old Patrick.

"It's okay, she hasn't gone on yet. She's so excited that you're coming. She comes on in two numbers." Ryder, Josh and I were sitting in the audience at Olivia's dance competition. We decided that we were going to leave for Ohio right after the competition, which is why Ryder and Josh came to. The Puckerman's are here because Santana and Sephora and Puck and Patrick were dragged along as well.

"Coming up right now is entry number 12 in the duet trio category, Somebody Told Me," I watched as Brooke, Maddie and Olivia walked onstage and performed their number. The choreography wasn't that difficult for Olivia, so the three stayed together for the whole performance. The number flew by, as did the duet with Maddie. The thing I was most concerned about was the solo. She was the only girl to learn a new solo this week and she was nervous. While I was helping her backstage, she kept saying that she was didn't want to do it because she wasn't ready. I heard the announcer call Olivia to the stage. She strutted on and put on her best diva pose. I squeezed Ryder's hand as the music began. Olivia pushed off into her pirouettes and I soon as I saw them, I knew she was going to be okay. Her turns were amazing and her flexibility made the crowd gasp. Soon enough, she walked off stage and the crowd went wild. I saw Olivia jump into Maddie's arms off stage.

"Why didn't you ever tell me that she was that good," Ryder said, looking shocked. He had never seen Olivia perform before. Not even at a rehearsal or dance class.

"I never thought I needed to," I murmured. Even Josh looked proud of his sister, "What did you think Josh?"

"Her costume was too small," he said, even though I knew he hadn't paid attention to that at all.

"I have to agree with that one," Ryder said.

"Oh she's fine," Santana said exasperatedly, "I've worn something much smaller than that when—"

"Thank you, Santana," I said quickly. At that moment, Olivia came tearing down the stairs and Ryder ran to meet her.

"DADDY," Olivia cried happily, jumping into his arms.

"You were so good," I said, "Everyone was clapping for you!"

"I know, I heard."

"Good job buddy," Puck said, giving her a high five.

"Do you need help getting ready for your group number," I asked and she nodded. I took her hand and walked backstage with her.

* * *

Olivia won first place in all of her numbers entered and Abby was so proud of her. After the competition, we said good bye to everyone and began our four hour drive to Lima, Ohio. We had managed to fit all of us, and the Puckerman family into the car and it had gotten a little chaotic. It started when Olivia had been prematurely woken up from her much needed nap when Josh angrily shouted over his game of Mindcraft. Her sobbing had last over forty five minutes until Santana gave her a bag of Goldfish crackers and she quieted down. Ever since, she has been quietly babbling to herself about princesses and fairies.

"Alright everyone," Puck said, who had been suffering from a long-lasting headache, "I declare an official silent game. Anyone who doesn't take it seriously will be punished." I rolled my eyes. I looked back and saw Olivia looking at Puck with fearful eyes.

"Honey, he doesn't mean you," I said quickly before the tears began again, "But I do like the idea of the game. Whoever wins, will get a bag of Smarties, starting now."

* * *

"Will somebody talk already," Josh said

"You just talked," Natalie said

"So did you," Patrick said. Sephora opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and closed it again.

"Now were all out," Josh said, "That makes it even more pathetic than it was before."

* * *

I looked into the back and saw Olivia sitting in the back with a bag of Smarties, which she had rightfully won. Ryder and Puck got out at the same time when they found out that the Steelers lost the football game, I got out when Josh kept pestering me to give him the candy and end the game then and there and Santana and Sephora got out when Sephora punctured her tube of lip gloss all over Santana's seat. Olivia had taken advantage of the silence to take out her princess coloring book and color undisturbed. All of the kids were glaring jealously at Olivia as she popped the Smarties into her mouth.

"Olivia," I said "Can you please share the Smarties?" She tapped her mouth, "Honey you can talk now. You already won."

"Oh. Okay."

"Will you share the Smarties," Josh asked.

"No."

"Candy mooch." He said accusingly. Olivia smiled widely.

"If you guys were done arguing, you would notice that we only have an hour left," Ryder said, as he had been the one driving.

"From my perspective," Santana said, "Josh isn't arguing. He's getting his butt kicked by a four year old."

"Thank you for that lovely insight Santana."

"Auntie Sana do you want one," Olivia said, fishing out a roll of Smarties and handing it to Santana.

"That's why you're my favorite," Santana said, accepting the candy.

* * *

"We're here," Ryder said quietly. He pulled into the parking lot at the hotel and turned into a spot. Everyone got out and Ryder pulled a sleeping Olivia out of her carseat. After her candy induced sugar high, Olivia crashed into a sleep that she hadn't woken from, and we hoped she wouldn't until the morning. Josh and I pulled our luggage along while Ryder carried Olivia. We opened the door into our suite and Josh ran and jumped onto the couch, which he agreed to sleep on so he wouldn't have to sleep with his sister.

"Thank god. I've never sat so long in my life," he said loudly.

"Dude," Ryder said, "You have to be quiet or you're going to have to deal with Sleeping Beauty." He pointed to the bed that Olivia would have. Ryder had tucked her in and she looked peaceful. Hopefully, it would last until morning.

* * *

**Chapter 5 preview: The glee club reunite and jealousy ensues.**


	5. The Choir Room

**Sorry for the late update, but I'm babysitting and the kids went to sleep and now I'm bored.  
Disclaimer: I wish I owned glee, but I don't. **

* * *

I felt my heart pounding as I walked down the hallway of my high school. Ryder walked next to me, holding Olivia's hand and Josh was behind us looking down at his phone. We turned into the choir room and I saw Mr. Schuester. I ran and gave him a hug  
"Marley," Mr. Schuester said, "It's so nice to see you! And you too Ryder. Who are these guys?"  
"This is Josh, he's thirteen and the one hiding behind Ryder is Olivia. She just turned three." Her hiding spot would have been fairly good if she hadn't decided to wear her butterfly wings today, which made it look like Ryder's legs had sprouted wings.  
"Well you guys are the first ones here so just sit tight while we wait for everyone else."  
"Don't wait too long because the Puckerman crew is here," A voice said,

"And don't worry. We already have the police and the hospital on speed dial for when things get out of hand. Dangerous things happen when we all get together, I mean Blaine almost lost an eye, Quinn went into labor, Marley passed out, and we all barfed all over each other while we were in high school."  
"AUNTIE SANA," Olivia cried. She ran over and gave Santana a hug, even though we had seen them not ten hours ago.  
"Hi Livi! I wish everyone would greet me like that. I like your wings. How did you fit those in your suitcase?" Olivia shrugged.  
"Wait," Mr. Schuester said," You guys still get together?"  
"Yeah," Puck said, "They live five minutes away from us. Oh by the way, this is Sephora, Natalie and Patrick." Mr. Schuester nodded.  
"Have you talked to Jake at all," Mr. Schuester asked.  
"Nah," Puck replied, "I stopped talking to him years ago." That just made my heart pound even more. My breakup with Jake had been pretty bad and it probably would be awkward, especially with the burden of the fact that he then married one of my friends.  
"So I know that everyone is coming from glee club except Mike and Mercedes, who both had things going on that they couldn't miss," Mr. Schuester said.  
"Quinn just texted me to say that they are here," Santana said  
"Yes I am," Quinn said, walking in the door. Santana made a very unSantana like squeal and ran over to hug her. She was followed by Joe Hart and three kids.  
"This is Sarah, she's eight, Alex, he's thirteen and Will is fifteen," Joe said. I introduced Josh and Olivia. Quinn fawned over how cute Olivia was in her butterfly wings. Olivia has gotten very good at charming people, and then getting them to do what she wants, so in a way she is a little like Quinn.

* * *

Over the next forty five minutes. Different glee alumni trickled into the choir room. After Joe and Quinn, Brittany and Sam came, with their twin thirteen year olds, Elyssa and Kyle. Then Tina and Blaine with eleven year old Taylor and ten year old Joey. After that, Unique came and I was so excited. She had moved to LA to become a movie star (which still hasn't happened yet) and I had lost touch with her. Then, Artie wheeled in, followed by Sugar and their kids, ten year old Lexi and fourteen year old Liam. The last person to arrive so far was Rachel and Kurt. This was the pairing the surprised me the most. I didn't think that Rachel would every get married after Finn passed away, but Kurt was a good friend to her and I guess it just escalated into something more. They had one daughter, Annemarie Star, which I found to be funny because that is such a Rachel Berry name. She was twelve. Suddenly, the door burst open and my nightmare was suddenly a reality.  
"You better watch out because Kitty Cat is coming in," Kitty strutted through the door, followed by Jake and three kids. They all had brown hair like Jake, but somehow ended up with white skin, which confused me, because Jake is half black, "Oh, this is Madison. She's eight, Ross, he's ten and McKenna, who's fifteen." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Josh look McKenna up and down and I elbowed him. I don't really mind him checking out girls to a degree, but that's just a step too far. I met Jake's eyes, who's flickered up to Ryder's and down to Josh who was the spitting image of him. They both had the same old school Justin Beiber haircut and blue eyes, and then down to Olivia, who also had the same blue eyes. She was lucky enough to get long thick blonde curls instead of the brown hair that Ryder, Josh and I have. After everyone says hello, Kitty walks over to me.  
"So Boobless and Beiber finally got happened," She says to me, "I saw your daughter on YouTube doing a dance routine. She obviously didn't get that talent from you." I mentally rolled my eyes.  
"No she probably didn't," I replied, deciding that it would probably be easiest to stay on Kitty's side as much as possible.  
"I also see that you haven't ballooned to your natural weight yet. Watch out, it's coming soon, and before you will be able to stop it. If I were you, I'd head straight for the gym and fast." Before I could say anything, Jake came over.  
"Hey Marley," He said, "You look nice."  
"Thanks," I said quietly. I willed Ryder to come over and help me. It must have worked because he glanced away from Blaine and Puck and saw the panic in my expression. He excused himself from the conversation and walked swiftly over.  
"Hey Marls, do you know where Liv is," Ryder asked.  
"Dude," Jake said, "Unless your legs grew wings, I think she's right behind you." He turned around and saw Olivia.  
"Hi Daddy," Olivia said. She raised her arms to be lifted up.  
"I can't pick you up with your wings on. "  
"Why?"  
"Because they hit me in the face every time you move."  
"What if I take them off."  
"Then I can pick you up." Olivia pulls off her butterfly wings and hands them to me. I fold them in half, careful to not rip the filmy fabric. Ryder picks up Olivia and she tucks herself into him and lays her head on his shoulder. Ryder slung his arm casually around my waist and I instantly felt protected. I knew then and there that I had picked the right man to fall in love with. I constantly was on my toes while I was with Jake and our relationship was built mostly on my fear of him leaving me. I did however notice the shadow cross over Jake's face during Ryder's actions.  
"How have you guys been. How did you guys end up married," Jake asked.  
"Well," I replied, "One day he showed up at my apartment when we were about twenty and he asked on a date and it was so romantic and when were were twenty one he proposed. He took me all the places we spent together and had a story for each one about us and we had a wedding on the beach in Florida. It was beautiful. It was kept really quiet. We had Josh when we were twenty four and we moved to Pennsylvania when we were...um...twenty nine I think, and we had Olivia when we were thirty four."  
"Well, Jake proposed to me in Las Vegas and our wedding was in San Diego," Kitty said smugly. She turned to Jake, "I just remembered," Kitty said, "We have to go. Madison and McKenna have a meeting with our agent in fifteen minutes," Jake looked down at the floor, almost like he was embarrassed of his wife. She turned back to is, "Madison and McKenna are very big in the commercial business and we are in the process of shooting a commercial for Toys R Us. We need to go soon so we aren't late."  
"Okay," Jake replied. They gathered their coats and said goodbye to everyone. Jake gave me a hug and I noticed how Ryder tensed and didn't relax until Jake let of and walked over to join his kids by the doorway. Right before they walked out the door, Kitty came over to me.  
"You should really take my advice and go to gym, stat."  
I felt my eyes fill with tears as I crumpled into Ryder's chest.  
"Don't listen to her," Ryder said, "You are beautiful and skinny and a even if you weren't I would still love you. You're a great mom and a great wife and you don't need to change anything about yourself and I love you more than there are words to express it with"  
"Thank you so much. You are such a romantic and I love you for it."  
I gave him a huge hug, and neither of us noticed the longing look that Jake gave us as he followed his second choice out the door.

** Wow this is a long chapter. Before I offend anybody because I don't have any gay couples, I just thought that it would be really complicated to explain how they got kids and all of the thing about gay marriage being legal for only like two months and it would all be really confusing. Don't get me wrong, I lock Klaine and Brittana as much as the next gleek, but in writing terms, it is just way to complex.  
If you are confused about the couples and their kids. The parts that aren't bold are the names of the kids who would play the kids in a movie. You can look them up on google images or imdb if you want a visual image of what the kids look like.  
Pairings  
Marley/Ryder - Olivia Rose** (Kylie LaDuca)** - 3, Josh Dylan** (Chase Ellison) **- 13**

**Rachel/Kurt - Annemarie Star **(Avalon Robbins) **- 12**

**Brittany/Sam - Elyssa Skye **(Willow Shields)** - 13 Kyle Max** (Maxwell Perry Cotton)** - 13**

**Quinn/Joe - Sarah Grace **(Destiny Whitlock) **- 8, Alex James **(CJ Adams) **- 13, Will Patrick** (Jaren Louison)** - 15**

**Jake/Kitty - Madison Josie **(Bailey Michelle Brown)** - 8, Ross Jake **(Jonathan Morgan Heit)** - 10 McKenna Jill** (Ryan Newman)** - 15**

**Santana/Puck - Sephora Paisley **(Ciara Bravo)** - 16, Patrick Samuel **(Davis Cleveland)** - 11**

**Artie/Sugar - Lexi Leigh** (Isabella Cramp) **- 10, Liam Lucas** (MaxRecords) **- 14**

**Tina/Blaine - Taylor Alexis** (Sophie Texeira)** - 11, Joey Adam** (Ryan Christopher Lee)** - 10**

**For Olivia, I know that Marley's maiden name is Rose, but I didn't like any other names that I came up with so please don't hate.  
Chapter 6 Preview: Everybody goes out for dinner at Breadstix and their is tension between many pairings.**


	6. The Restaurant

**I thought that because Halloween is coming up, The next chapter would be of trick or treating. It could be with people from McKinley or the girls from Dance Moms. Don't worry, I can get the girls to come down to Ohio. It isn't a problem. Comment which you want me choose. Also, comment what costumes should be.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee in any way, even though I wish I did.**

* * *

I felt my phone buzz and I pulled it out of my pocket.

Breadstix at six? Kids can come. It was from Santana and the list of people that it was sent to was everybody from glee club, including Mr. Schuester.

Sure I texted back. I was sitting at the hotel's indoor pool, watching Ryder play with Olivia is the water while Josh played Marco Polo and dived for Torpedo's in the deep end with Sephora, Natalie, and Patrick. I watched Olivia riding on Ryder's back as he swam underwater. I smiled. When they emerged, I called to Ryder.

"Santana invited all of us to dinner at Breadstix at six. Everyone is going to be there."

"Ok," he replied, "The kids too?"

"Yeah," I answered, "I guess we're bringing them too." I gestured towards Sephora, Patrick, and Natalie. Puck and Santana had gone out shopping, because next week is Sephora's birthday and we were watching them so they didn't do something stupid, or at least that's what Santana told us to do. We had all gotten lunch at the hotel's restaurant and then went to the arcade for thirty minutes and somehow we had ended up at the pool.

"Mommy," Olivia called, "Come in with us."

"Fine," I replied, partly because the humidity of the room and partly because I knew that if I didn't, I would be missing precious memories. I stepped into the cool water and Olivia, clinging to the edge of the pool, crept her way to me.

"Do you want to see me swim Mommy," Olivia asked. Ryder had been practicing swimming with Olivia, which had gone pretty well I guess, but I decided that I probably shouldn't watch for fear of what could possibly happen.

"Sure," I replied. Ryder carried to to middle of the shallow end and let go. Olivia doggy paddled about half a foot before she started to sink. Ryder grabbed her and set her upright.

"Good job buddy," he said.

"Oh I'm so proud of you," I said, wading over to her. I picked her up and swung her around, "you're only four and you already know how to swim!"

"Hey mom," Josh called from the deep end, "look!" He dived into the pool with perfect form and almost no splash at all. He emerged from the water and wiped the water out of his eyes. Ryder, Olivia and I clapped.

"Mom, can I join the swim team at school? We did all raced each other and I won all of them except one and that's only because Patrick and I accidentally collided and I swallowed a bunch of water."

"Yeah," I replied, kind of thrown off on the sudden inspiration on his part,

"If it's what you want to do." Josh has been trying to figure out what his "thing" is. He tried soccer, baseball, lacrosse and football and didn't like any of them. I think Ryder was a little disappointed that Josh wouldn't end up wearing a Letterman jacket like he did, but he got over it. Josh does take guitar and drum lessons with Puck, which he likes, but he refuses to play for us. He sings too. I've heard him, but he won't do anything about that either. I did make him tryout for the Select Choir at his school and he got in, and he tried out for the jazz band and got into that too, but that's it. I wish he could come out of his shell a little bit.

* * *

"Hey Marley," Jake said as I walked up to the table, "Hi Olivia," Olivia looked up at Jake with her big blue eyes from behind my legs.

"Don't worry. She's like that with everybody," I said, "Say hi to Jake honey."

"Hi," she said timidly.

"I like your wings," Jake said, gesturing to the butterfly wings she was wearing again, "They make you look like a real-" I mouthed _fairy princess_, "-fairy princess." She beamed. Everybody always said butterfly or just fairy when they tried to guess what she was and Ryder was the only one who knew what her wings meant and even though Jake hadn't really guessed, it made her happy.

"Where's Ryder," he asked.

"He's parking," I said, "This one was complaining that her wings were poking her in the back so I offered to take her inside so this dinner would go as smooth as possible."

"Or was it because you wanted to get away from Ryder as fast as possible so he wouldn't see your weight gain," Kitty asked, walking up behind us.

"Kitty stop," Jake said.

"Yeah mom," McKenna said, "So not cool." She kept walking and sat down next to Sephora, who she had gotten to know pretty well. Ryder walked in the door with Josh and saw me cornered by Kitty and Jake.

"Go sit down Josh," he said and walked over to me and picked up Olivia and held her just the right way so she was between the two of us and Jake and Kitty could see the resemblances. Olivia had my blue eyes and nose and Ryder's smile and dimples. I saw Kitty and Jake looking between the three of us and I knew Ryder's plan had worked. Santana walked in the door behind us and I knew we were saved.

"Hey Pretty Little Liar. Are you still up to your little scheme to ruin Marley's life," she asked.

"How about we just sit down," Jake asked.

* * *

"Ryder," I said, "Where's Olivia?"

"I don't know. I thought you had here."

"Oh I saw her get up about five minutes ago," Kitty said. A wave of panic rushed over me.

"Why didn't you say anything," I shrieked.

"Because a certain Santana Lopez said that if I said another word to you for the rest of the night, she would personally get someone to pull the brake pedal out of my car." I jumped up out of my seat and immediately saw where she was. After the relief subsided, I had to laugh. She had seen the stage in Breadstix and taken Abby's advice to practice whenever possible. She was dancing to Wings, which was playing over the radio. Everyone, including the restaurant employees were oohing and aahing over how cute Olivia was. As the number ended, everyone clapped and Olivia ran back to the table. I contemplated yelling at her, but she was turning into quite the performer, so I decided that it could wait until we got back to the hotel.

"Wasn't I good mommy," Olivia asked, her wings hanging off on one shoulder.

"Yeah," I replied, "but you can't just disappear like that. It scares me. Can you say sorry."

"Sorry mommy," she said.

"Can you give me a hug," I asked.

"Yeah." I pulled her in close to me and hugged her tight. I wasn't mad, just scared. She could slip away so fast, "I wanna go back to dance. I'm missing another voice lesson."

"I know," I said. I felt bad that she was missing something that she loved so much. We were doing what Abby said and keeping her stretched out, but it wasn't enough for the dear four year old, who was bored to death.

"You know," Mr. Schuester said, "I wanted to do a couple days where we did performances. If you wanted to sing and dance, you could."

"Can I Mommy," she asked, looking up at me.

"Sure," I said, knowing that if I said no, everyone would give me hard time.

"Cool! I even brought a costume!" I looked at Ryder.

"You were supposed to be helping her pack," I said to him.

"That kind of stuff is so complicated though," he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Olivia just reminded me of this weeks lesson," Mr. Schuester said, addressing the whole group, "I want each family to do a performance. It can be whatever song you want and the kids don't have to sing if they don't want to. I want to make sure that everybody is still national championship standard.

"Well Mr. Schue," Rachel said,

"After being on twelve Broadway shows and being nominated for nine Tony Awards, I can safely say that I am still quite practiced in the musical theater field." I rolled my eyes. I never really got to know Rachel, but from the small amount of time I had spent with her, and what I had heard from other people - mainly Santana, she was nice enough, but kind of full of herself.

"Thank you Rachel, for clearing up what we have all been thinking. You are still a self centered, egotistical little kiss a-"

"Thank you Santana," Mr. Schuester said quickly, "Anyway, you have your assignment and I will see you on Friday. Try to email me your performance lists as soon as possible." Everyone began to get up and gather their belongings. I pulled Olivia's coat on and she put her wings on over it. I picked her up and balanced her on my waist as I picked up my purse.

"I had fun tonight," Jake said walking up behind me. He must of noticed my struggle to get my coat on while also carrying Olivia, "Here, let me hold her." He took Olivia from me while I pulled my coat on and zipped it up. At that moment, Ryder walked up, and I saw the confusion in his face. Admittedly, it had been me to walk up to see my daughter in the arms of my wife's ex boyfriend I may have been confused as well. He acted pretty nonchalant about the whole ordeal though and he walked over and took Olivia from Ryder.

"Thanks dude," Jake said, "Her wings were starting to jab me in the back."

"Don't worry," Ryder replied, smiling, "You get used to it eventually."

"I'm tired Daddy," Olivia said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I know you are sweetie. We're heading back to the hotel soon," Ryder replied. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Jake's eyes shown with jealousy and I could tell that he wanted to be the one holding Liv instead of Ryder. I didn't feel any regrets though. We broke up in our sophomore year of high school. He wasn't treating me right and I realized that Ryder cared a lot more about me than Jake did. I felt so bad for how I had treated Ryder while I was dating Jake and I was so lucky that he had given me a second chance. Ryder, Josh, Olivia and I walked back to the car and I buckled Liv into her car seat. As we pulled out of the Breadstix parking lot, I saw Jake's mournful face following the car as he walked out of the restaurant with his family.

* * *

**I'm not sure what I think of this chapter. Anyway, comment what I should do for the Halloween chapter! I try to reply to all messages I get. **

**Chapter 7 Preview: It's Halloween and Olivia gets sick**.


	7. The Fright Night

**Happy Halloween! I'm being Kitty from Glee! My friends are all annoyed with me because of my Glee obsession, but that's okay.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee in anyway**

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia said, "They're here."

"You can let them in honey," I called. She opened the hotel room door and her friends flooded in.

"HIHIHIHIHIHI," Olivia said excitedly. This has been the longest time she's gone without seeing the girls from dance. She hugged all of them, including the other moms, who were smiling at her excitement. Brooke picked Olivia up and swung her around. She is definitely one of the girls that Olivia is closest to. She and Chloe babysit for her all the time.

"Are you guys ready for trick or treating," Abby asked. The girl's competition was in Georgia this week, but they decided to come down a few days early so they could go trick-or-treating down Kendall's neighborhood and see Olivia.

"Yes," they all chorused.

"We are going in an hour so you guys have to get ready," Abby continued, "I'm going down to the pool, so I'll be up in sixty minutes and I'm not waiting for anyone."

***/

Just as Abby said, exactly one hour later, she opened the door and was greeted by eight very excited girls. Even Brooke, who had been complaining that trick or treating was for babies, looked eager to get out. She was dressed as an Evil Queen. Paige and Chloe were dressing up as a Skeleton Princess and a Gothic Vampire. Nia was an Indian Maharani Princess. Kendall was a Broken Doll. Maddie was a Venetian Princess and Mackenzie was a Flamingo. Olivia was being a Shaggy Dog and she was very excited. She kept barking at people and rolling around on the floor. We always had to watch our step because we didn't want to step on her.

"Ready," Abby asked.

"Yeah," the girls replied. We trooped out of the hotel room and down the hall. The poor people that we passed looked terrified and I couldn't help but laugh. You don't often see kids dressed up as various things walking through a hotel. We walked out of the hotel leaving the people working there with stunned expressions on their faces. We all got on the bus that the team had driven down in and choose seats. Olivia couldn't decide who to sit with and the other girls were fighting over who would sit with her. Eventually, it was decided that Maddie would sit with her on the way there, Chloe would sit with her on the way back, Kendall would hold her hand while they were trick or treating because she knew her way around and she would sit between Mackenzie and Paige during dinner. Brooke was responsible for watching everybody because she was the oldest. By the time this was all figured out, we had gotten to Kendall's neighborhood.

"Everybody out," Abby called from the front, where she had been shouting at the bus driver. Everyone paraded out of the bus and to the first house. I stood with the other moms and Abby as we watched the girls run to the house, ring the doorbell and chorus "TRICK OR TREAT." I smiled as I saw Olivia's face shining as she ran back to me.

"Look how much candy I got Mommy," she cried, showing me her bag.

"Come on Liv," Kendall called, holding out her hand. Olivia grabbed it and followed them through the neighborhood.

* * *

"Look how much candy I got Daddy," Olivia cried, jumping into Ryder's arms. We had gotten back to the hotel from the restaurant to see Ryder watching a football game.

"I see, honey," he replied, looking into the bag that Olivia was holding out, "Can I have some?"

"Yeah right," Olivia said. I laughed.

"You've been spending too much time with Maddie," I said, "Where's Josh?"

"Oh, he's trick or treating with Patrick, Natalie and Sephora. They're going out pretty late, so he's sleeping over," Ryder replied.

"Yay," Olivia cried, "I get a bed all to myself!"

* * *

**Does this seem like a short chapter to you? I didn't spend a lot of time on this because I was making a video for the story. It's all the families with pictures for each one. Here's the link: watch?v=soBxZ3nNC6g**

**The links for the costumes that the girls wore is in my bio.**

**Chapter 8 Preview: Somebody eats a little too much Halloween candy**


	8. The Flu

**Hey, is everybody excited about glee this week? At this point, baseball is one of my least favorite things because it got in the way of my show. Four weeks without glee has been torture on me and season four isn't on Netflix yet, which I am finding really irritating. I hear we might be having some Jarley tension in a couple episodes, which I am hoping is going to lead to some RYLEY!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Glee, but I don't.**

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia said, standing next to my bed, "I feel yucky." Ryder rolled over next to me.

"It's two in the morning honey," he said, not hearing what she had said before.

"Do you want to get in bed with us honey," I asked. She nodded feebly and I noticed how pale she was. I got up and felt her forehead, "You have a fever honey." I lifted her up and laid her down in between Ryder and me. She instantly curled up into Ryder and closed her eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief at the disaster that had been avoided.

* * *

I felt Olivia sit up next to me. I looked at the clock next to me and saw that it was 3:30. Ryder sat up too and looked at Olivia with a concerned expression on his face.

"I don't feel good," she said, fear shining in her eyes.

"Ryder, she's going to-"

"I'm on it." He grabbed Olivia around her waist and jogged with her to the bathroom. As I heard the sounds of Olivia throwing up and Ryder telling her that it was going to be okay, I fell back onto my pillow knowing that this was going to be a very long night. Ryder and Olivia came out of the bathroom and I saw Olivia sobbing with her face buried in Ryder's neck. He laid her down next to me and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tight into me.

/

"Do you want to sleep a little bit,' Ryder asked me, seeing I draped over the couch watching endless episodes of _Sophia the First_ and _Doc McStuffins_. During the night, Olivia had gotten up every fifteen minutes to throw up and I had mostly been the one to get up with her. Ryder is a heavy sleeper and I decided to not wake him up and make him deal with her during the day. This made a lot of sense to me at four in the morning, but I never thought that she might end up drifting towards me all day.

"Sure," I replied, "Liv, can you sit with Daddy now?"

"Can he read to me," She asked. I glanced at Ryder nervously. He had avoided reading to her as much as possible because of his dyslexia.

"Sure," he replied. She beamed.

"Can you read Pinkalicious," she asked.

"Okay," he replied. As she ran to get her pile of picture books, I sat in bed pretending to sleep, but really listening to what was happening on the other side of the room. Olivia sat next to Ryder on the couch and pulled a pink fuzzy blanket around her. Her "puke bucket" was next to her and she pulled _Pinkalicious_ off the top of the stack of books she had carried over. She curled up next to him and handed him the book. He opened it and started reading.

_"__It was a rainy day, too wet to go outs…outside. Mommy said, 'Let's make cup..cupcake!. What color do you want?' 'Pink,' I said, 'Pink, pink, pink!'_," He read.

When they finished reading, Olivia looked up at Ryder and said, "That's the first time you readed to me." I smiled at her use of the word readed, but I smiled even more at Ryder's expression when Olivia said that, "Can you read more?"

"Of course," He replied.

* * *

In the next hour, Ryder and Olivia read, _Pinkalicious_ again, _Purplicious_, _Silverlicious_, _Goldilicious_, _Emeraldalicious_, _Fancy Nancy_, _Ladybug Girl_ and _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_. By then, her fever was down and she was full of energy again.

"Can I rehearse my number for Thursday," Olivia asked.

"You're going to self-choreograph," I asked skeptically.

"Yeah," she replied excitedly.

"Okay," I pushed the coffee table, couch and chair into a corner to give her room and hit play.

* * *

**Really short, I know, but I have been having some writers block. I'm warning you, next weekend, I'm not going to be able to write because my cousin is staying over and babysitting her and my little sister is going to be, to put it plainly, exhausting, but I will try to maybe write in advance and publish when I have time.**

**It has come to my attention that the link to the video was cut off, so here it is again: watch?v=soBxZ3nNC6g To remind you, it is a video of all the people I would have play the parts, with baby/toddler pictures of the kids.**

**Chapter 9 Preview: Olivia goes to an audition**


	9. The Audition

**Four days until Glee! How excited is everybody?**

** Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, I would have completely disregarded baseball and kept airing the show. **

* * *

"Are you ready to go," I asked Olivia. Will emailed me saying that an agent was interested in Olivia doing a little filming. We were meeting with him in twenty five minutes.

"Yeah," she said, wearing her signature butterfly wings again.

"Ryder," I called, "Liv and I are going."

* * *

"Are you Marley Lynn," someone asked behind me.

"Yes," I replied, "This is Olivia."

"Nice to meet you," the man replied, "I'm Matt." He sat down between Olivia and I.

"I already have a job in mind for Olivia and she has the look for it. Fox Legacy is making The Shirley Temple Story in honor of Shirley. They want to conclude the documentary with a tap performance, which is where Olivia would come in."

"What would it involve," I asked.

"Today we would have her learn the choreography and have a costume fitting and tomorrow would be two hours of filming, including hair and makeup time. I know it isn't a lot of time."

"Oh that won't be a problem," I said, "She learns most of her routines in two hours anyway."

"Oh that reminds me," Matt said, "I discussed this with Olivia's dance teacher and she says that Olivia can't be paid, because then she would be considered a professional dancer and couldn't compete anymore."

"Can I mommy," Olivia asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Yes," I replied.

* * *

"Welcome to Fox Studio's," Matt said, "Are you excited Olivia?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Olivia said excitedly. We had spent most of yesterday at a dance studio learning her routine and getting fitted for her costume. Today, we are spending two hours at the Fox Studio's.

"She needs to go to hair and makeup now," Matt continued, "They need time to make her curls."

"I'm getting curls like Shirley Temple," Olivia asked.

"Yes you are," I replied, smiling at her excitement.

"Yay," Olivia said.

* * *

Despite Olivia screaming during hair and makeup and throwing a temper tantrum during the fifth take, we finished shooting under two hours and were on our way to William McKinley High School to begin the Glee Club alumni performances.

* * *

**I'm sorry for all these short chapters. For the link to Olivia's Shirley Temple performance, look in my bio.**

**Chapter 10 Preview: The Glee Club alumni begins the performances**


	10. The Performances Part 1

**Sorry for such a large gap in editing. My parents wanted me to babysit my three year old sister and my four year old cousin overnight because they were going to an adult's only wedding. I was honestly so terrified that something horrible was going to happen that it was stressing me out and I watch the entire first and second seasons of Glee. What did everybody think of glee? Jarley is breaking up! I'm sad and happy at the same time. Maybe Ryley is going to happen!**

**Disclaimer: I really, really want to own Glee, but I don't.**

* * *

"Welcome to the auditorium," Mr. Schuester said, standing on the stage, "For many of you, many afternoons were spent laughing and crying on this stage. Looking at my schedule, you all got my email saying that I wanted you to do a number that you did during glee club. The exception is Ryder and Marley because they never really did a duet. This is going to take a couple days to complete, but that's okay. But before we begin, I believe Miss Olivia Lynn has an announcement."

"My 'nouncement is that I got to be on a TV show and we filmed it yesterday," Olivia said, "I was Shirley Temple and I got curls and I did a tap dance." Everybody clapped and Santana gave her a high five. Kitty was glaring at the ceiling.

"That's great," Mr. Schuester said, "To start off our performances, we have Sam, Brittany, Elyssa and Kyle singing "Something Stupid".

"Thanks for the encouragement Mr. Schue," Brittany said.

"Brit," Sam said, "That's the name of the song."

"Ohhhh," Brittany replied. The family walked on stage and the music began.

**_Brittany:_**_ I know I stand in line,_

_Until you think you have the time_

_To spend an evening with me_

**_Sam:_**_And if we go someplace to dance_

_I know that there's a chance_

_You won't be leaving with me_

**_Elyssa: _**_And afterwards we drop into a quiet little place_

_And have a drink or two_

_And then I go and spoil it all_

**_All: _**_By saying something stupid_

_Like: "I love you"_

**_Kyle: _**_I can see it in your eyes_

_That you still despise the same old lines_

_You heard the night before_

**_Brittany: _**_And though it's just a line to you_

_For me it's true_

_It never seemed so right before_

**_Sam: _**_I practice every day_

_To find some clever lines to say_

_To make the meaning come through_

**_Elyssa: _**_But then I think I'll wait_

_Until the evening gets late_

_And I'm alone with you_

**_Kyle: _**_The time is right_

_Your perfume fills my head_

_The stars get red_

_And oh, the night's so blue_

**_All: _**_And then I go and spoil it all_

_By saying something stupid_

_Like: "I love you"_

**_Sam and Brittany: _**_The time is right_

_Your perfume fills my head_

_The stars get red_

_And oh, the night's so blue_

**_All: _**_And then I go and spoil it all_

_By saying something stupid_

_Like: "I love you"_

_"I love you"_

_"I love you"_

_"I love you"_

"Awesome guys," Mr. Schuester said, after the applause died down, "Elyssa, Kyle you guys really are talented." They beamed at him, "Next are…Rachel, Kurt and Annemarie singing _Get Back." _

"Before you either of you say anything, we know that you have won Tony's and are incredible. We've been hearing it since we were fifteen years old," Santana said. Rachel and Kurt walked silently onto the stage with Annemarie following behind them. The music started.

**_Kurt: _**_Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner_

_But he knew it couldn't last_

_Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona_

_For some California grass_

**_All: _**_Get back, get back_

_Get back to where you once belonged_

_Get back, get back_

_Get back to where you once belonged_

_Get back Jojo (__**Annemarie:**__ Uh uh uh uhhh yeah) (__**Kurt:**__ Go home)_

_(__**Rachel:**__ Oh!)_

_Get back, get back_

_Back to where you once belonged_

_Get back, get back_

_Back to where you once belonged_

_Oh, get back Jo_

**_Rachel: _**_Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh_

_Yeah, get back Jo! Yeah, oh oh oh oh_

**_Annemarie: _**_Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman_

_But she was another man_

_All the girls around her say she's got it coming_

_But she gets it while she can_

_Get back, get back_

_Get back to where you once belonged_

_Get back, get back_

_Get back to where you once belonged_

_Get back Loretta (__**Rachel:**__ Uh uh uh uhhh, back to where you once belonged) (__**Kurt:**__ Go home)_

**_Kurt: _**_Oh get back_

**_Rachel: _**_Oh get back_

**_Annemarie:_**_Yeah get back_

**_Kurt:_**

_Yeah get back_

**_Rachel:_**

_Get back to where you once belonged_

**_Annemarie:_**_Yeah get back_

**_Rachel and Kurt_**_: Yeah get back_

**_All: _**_Get back, get back to where you once belonged_

_Woo..._

"Annemarie," Mr. Schuester, "you certainly are following your namesake because you are going to be quite the star someday. Good job guys! Next up are Quinn, Joe, Sarah, Alex and Will, singing _Saving All My Love for You_"

**_Joe: _**_A few stolen moments is all that we share_

_You've got your family, and they need you there_

_Though I've tried to resist, being last on your list_

**_Quinn:_**_But no other man's gonna do_

_So I'm saving all my love for you_

**_Sarah: _**_It's not very easy,_

**_Alex: _**_living all alone_

**_Will:_**_My friends try to tell me,_

**_Quinn and Sarah_**_: Find a man of your own_

**_Joe:_**_But each time I try, I just break down and cry_

**_Quinn: _**_'Cause I'd rather be home feeling blue_

_So I'm saving all my love for you_

**_Sarah:_**_You used to tell me we'd run away together_

_Love gives you the right to be free_

**_Alex:_**_You said, "Be patient, just wait a little longer"_

**_Will:_**_But that's just an old fantasy_

_I've got to get ready, just a few minutes more_

**_Joe:_**_Gonna get that old feeling when you walk through that door_

_'Cause tonight is the night, for feeling alright_

_We'll be making love the whole night through_

**_Quinn:_**_So I'm saving all my love_

_Yes I'm saving all my love_

**_Sarah:_**_Yes I'm saving all my love for you_

**_Alex:_**_No other woman_

**_Will:_**_Is gonna love you more_

**_Quinn and Joe:_**_'Cause tonight is the night, that I'm feeling alright_

_We'll be making love the whole night through_

**_All:_**_So I'm saving all my love_

_Yeah, I'm saving all my lovin'_

_Yes, I'm saving all my love for you_

_For You_

_For You_

_For You_

Everyone clapped, especially Santana and Brittany, who had been especially close to Quinn during school.

"Great job guys," Mr. Schuester said, "Next up is Santana, Puck, Sephora, Natalie and Patrick singing _Hit Me With Your Best Shot_, mashed up with _One Way or Another._

**_Puck and Patrick: _**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Why don't you hit me with your best shot?_

**_Santana, Sephora and Natalie: _**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'_

**_Puck: _**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Fire away!_

**_Santana: _**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!_

**_Sephora: _**_One way or another, I'm gonna find ya'_

_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'_

**_Natalie:_**_One way or another, I'm gonna win ya'_

_I'll get ya'! I'll get ya'!_

**_Patrick: _**_Well, you're the real tough cookie with the long history_

_Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me_

_That's OK, let's see how you do it_

_Put up your dukes, lets get down to it!_

**_Puck and Patrick: _**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Why don't you hit me with your best shot?_

**_Santana, Sephora and Natalie_**_: I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'_

**_Puck: _**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Fire away!_

**_Santana:_**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!_

**_Patrick:_**_You come on with your come ons, you don't fight fair_

_But that's OK, see if I care!_

_Knock me down, it's all in vain_

_I'll get right back on my feet again!_

_(__**Puck:**__ That's right!)_

**_Puck and Patrick: _**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Why don't you hit me with your best shot?_

**_Santana, Sephora and Natalie:_**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'_

**_Puck and Patrick_**_: Hit me with your best shot_

_Fire away!_

**_Santana:_**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!_

**_Sephora and Natalie_**_: And if the lights are all out_

_I'll follow your bus downtown_

_See who's hangin' out..._

**_Puck:_**_Hit me with your best shot_

_Fire away!_

**_Natalie:_**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!_

_(__**Patrick:**__ Come On!)_

**_Puck and Patrick_**_: Hit me with your best shot_

_(__**Santana**__: Hit me with your best shot!)_

_Why don't you hit me with your best shot?_

_(__**Sephora:**__ Hit me with your best shot!)_

_(__**Natalie:**__ I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!)_

_Hit me with your best shot!_

**_Puck and Santana:_**_Fire away!_

_(Sephora: Ay ay ay ay ay!)_

**_Natalie:_**_-One way or another, I'm gonna find ya'I'm gonna get ya', yeah_

_(__**Santana and Sephora:**__ get ya', get ya', get ya'!)_

**_Puck:_**_Hit me with your best shot_

_(__**Santana, Sephora and Natalie**__: One way or another)_

**_Puck and Patrick:_**_Fire away!_

_(__**Natalie**__: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!)_

**_Santana_**_: I'm gonna get ya', get ya'!_

**_Puck:_**_Fire away!_

**_Santana, Sephora and Natalie:_**_I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'!_

**_All:_**

_Hit me with your best shot_!

"Fantastic," Mr. Schuester said after the applause, "Next up are Artie, Sugar, Liam, Lexi, singing _Let Me Love You_"

"Well," Artie said, "As you know, Sugar doesn't actually sing; neither does Liam, but he said that we will accompany me on the keyboard. The guitar and drums are more of his forte, but that's okay."

**_Artie_**_: Mmm, (Ahh)_

_Mmm, (Yeah)_

_Mmmmm, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_Ah, (Ahh)_

**_Lexi_**_: Mmm, (Yeah)_

_Mmmmm, yeah, yeah_

_Uh_

**_Artie_**_: Baby I just don't get it_

_Do you enjoy being hurt?_

_I know you smelled the perfume,_

_The make-up on his shirt_

_You don't believe his stories_

_You know that they're all lies_

_Mad as you are, you stick around_

_And I just don't know why_

**_Artie_**_and __**Lexi**__: If I was ya' man (__**Lexi**__: Baby you)_

_Never worry 'bout (__**Lexi**__: What I do)_

_I'd be coming home (__**Lexi**__: Back to you)_

**_Artie_**_: Every night,_

_Doin' you right_

**_Lexi_**_: You're the type of woman (__**Artie**__: Deserves good thangs)_

_Fist full of diamonds (__**Artie**__: Hand full of rings)_

_Baby you're a star (__**Artie**__: I just want to show you, you are)_

**_Artie_**_and __**Lexi**__: You should let me love you_

_Let me be the one to_

_Give you everything you want and need_

_Baby, good love and protection_

_Make me your selection_

_Show you the way love's supposed to be_

**_Artie_**_: Baby you should let me love you,_

_Love you,_

_Love you,_

_Love you,_

_Yeah_

**_Lexi_**_: Listen_

_Your true beauty's description_

_Looks so good that it hurts_

_You're a dime plus ninety-nine and it's a shame_

_Don't even know what you're worth_

_Everywhere you go they stop and stare_

_'Cause you're bad and it shows_

_From your head to your toes_

_Out of control,_

_Baby you know_

**_Artie_**_: If I was ya' man (__**Lexi**__: Baby you)_

_Never worry 'bout (__**Lexi**__: What I do)_

_I'd be coming home (__**Lexi**__: Back to you)_

_Every night doin' you right_

**_Lexi_**_: You're the type of woman (__**Artie**__: deserves good thangs)_

_Fistful of diamonds (__**Artie**__: hand full of rings)_

_Baby you're a star (__**Artie**__: I just want to show you, you are)_

**_Artie_**_and __**Lexi**__: You should let me love you_

_Let me be the one to_

_Give you everything you want and need_

_Ooh, baby good love and protection_

_Make me your selection_

_Show you the way love's supposed to be_

**_Artie_**_: Baby you should let me_

_You deserve better girl (__**Lexi**__: Ohh, you know you deserve better)_

_We should be together girl (__**Lexi**__ Baby)_

**_Lexi_**_: Oooooh_

**_Artie_**_: With me and you it's whatever girl,_

**_Lexi_**_: Hey!_

_So can we make this thing ours?_

**_Lexi_**_:_

_You should let me love you_

**_Lexi_**_:_

_Let me be the one to (__**Artie**__: Let me be the one to give)_

_Give you everything you want (__**Artie**__: Oh!) and need (__**Artie**__: Everything you need, yeah)_

_Baby, good love and protection (__**Artie**__: Said everything)_

_Make me your selection (__**Artie**__: The way you shake me, baby)_

_Show you the way love's supposed to be (__**Artie**__: Oooh)_

_(__**Artie**__: Baby, you should let me love you) You should let me love you,_

**_Artie_**_: Let me be the one to (__**Lexi**__: Ohh, give you everything)_

_Give you everything you want and need_

_Ooh, baby good love and protection (__**Lexi**__: Good love and protection)_

_Make me your selection_

_Show you the way love's supposed to be (__**Lexi**__: Hey!)_

_(__**Lexi**__: Hey) You should let me love you (__**Lexi**__: Love you)_

_Let me be the one to (__**Lexi**__: The one to)_

_Give you everything you want and need (__**Lexi**__: Anything you need, oooh, baby)_

_Ooh, baby good love and protection (__**Lexi**__: Protection)_

_Make me your selection (__**Lexi**__: Selection, baby)_

_Show you the way love's supposed to be (__**Lexi**__: Ooooh, yeah)_

_(__**Lexi**__: Let me love you)_

**_Artie_**_and __**Lexi**__: It's all you need, baby_

"Excellent guys," Will said, high fiving Lexi, "Let's take a lunch break and get back to the performances.

* * *

**Long chapter? It was eighteen pages on Microsoft Word. I chose to do the performances with old numbers because I thought that it would be kind of difficult to find songs that Glee hasn't done before. I know that not all the people are exactly as they are in the show, but this was the only way to make it work.**

**Song Credits: Glee versions of **Let Me Love You** (originally by Mario), **Hit Me with Your Best Shot/One Way or Another **(originally by Pat Benatar/Blondie),**Something Stupid** (originally by **Carson & Gaile**), **Saving All My Love for You **(originally by Whitney Houston) and **Get Back **(originally by The Beatles)**

**Chapter 11 Preview: The Glee Club alumnus finishes the performances.**


	11. The Performances Part 2

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Glee is not something I can call my own.**

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia asked, "When am I going to dance?"

"Right before we all sing," I replied, "Are you going to take your wings off?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to," She replied sadly.

"I was wondering," Kitty said, sauntering up to us, "What's with the wings. They are kind of tacky." Olivia looked up at her with a confused expression on her face.

"Kitty stop," I replied, as I felt anger course through me, "You can make fun of me and insult me all you want but you can't insult my daughter."

"Actually, I can, thanks to the first amendment," Kitty replied.

"What's going on," Ryder asked, coming up to us.

"Daddy, she called my wings ticky," Olivia said.

"What," he asked, looking perplexed.

"Tacky," she corrected herself.

"Kitty," Ryder said calmly, "Why are you picking on us. What did we ever do to you?" Kitty rolled her eyes and walked away.

"She's just upset because Madison and McKenna didn't get the commercial for Toys R Us and then Olivia got the Shirley Temple role without any issues," Jake said, who had been watching the conversation from the beginning. I nodded, knowing that she has had the same reaction to similar situations in the past.

"It's time to finish the performances," Will said, sticking his head in the room, "First up is Tina, Blaine, Taylor and Joey singing _Just Can't Get Enough_."

_**Blaine**__: When I'm with you baby_

_I go out of my head_

_And I just can't get enough_

_And I just can't get enough_

**_Tina_**_: All the things you do to me_

_And everything you said_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

**_Blaine_**_**and Tina**__: We slip and slide as we fall in love_

_And I just can't seem to get enough of_

**_Taylor_**_: We walk together_

_We're walking down the street_

**_Joey_**_: And I just can't get enough_

_And I just can't get enough_

**_Taylor_**_: Everytime I think of you_

_I know we have to meet_

**_Taylor_**_and __**Joey**__: And I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_It's getting hotter, it's a burning love_

_And I just can't seem to get enough of_

**_All:_**_Just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

**_Blaine_**_: And when it rains_

_You're shining down for me_

**_Blaine_**_**and Tina**__: And I just can't get enough_

_And I just can't get enough_

**_Tina_**_: Just like a rainbow_

_You know you set me free_

_And I just can't get enough_

_And I just can't get enough_

**_Tina_**_: You're like an angel and you give me your love_

_And I just can't seem to get enough of_

**_All:_**_I just can't get enough (__**Taylor**__: Ohhhhh...)_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

_I just can't get enough_

**_Tina_**_: It's getting hotter, it's a burning love_

_And I just can't seem to get enough of_

"Great," Mr. Schuester said, "I love seeing all this talent in kids. It reminds me of the glee club. Anyway, next up is Jake, Kitty, McKenna, Ross and Madison singing Everybody Talks.

**_Ross:_**_Ah_

_**Kitty, McKenna and Madison: **__Aaah  
Aaaah_

_**Jake:**__ Uh uh...mm...mm  
Hey baby won't you look my way  
I could be your new addiction_

_**Kitty:**__ Hey baby what you gotta say?  
All you're giving me is fiction_

_**McKenna:**__ I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time_

_**Madison:**__ I found out that everybody talks  
Everybody talks, everybody talks_

_**Ross:**__ It started with a whisper  
And that was when I kissed her  
And then she made my lips hurt  
__**McKenna and Madison:**__ I can hear the chit-chat  
Take me to your love shack  
Mama's always gotta back track  
When everybody talks back_

_**Jake:**__ Hey honey you could be my drug  
You could be my new prescription_

_**Kitty:**__ Too much can be an overdose  
All this trash talk make me itchin'_

_**McKenna: **__Oh my, my dear  
Everybody talks, everybody talks  
Everybody talks,_

_**Ross:**__ Too much  
It started with a whisper  
And that was when I kissed her  
And then she made my lips hurt_

_**Madison**__ I can hear the chit-chat  
Take me to your love shack  
Mama's always gotta back track  
When everybody talks back_

_**Jake:**__ Never thought I'd live  
To see the day  
When everybody's words got in the way, oh!_

_**Kitty:**__ Yeah, yeah  
Oh, woah  
Ohhh_

_**Jake:**__ Hey sugar show me all your love  
All you're givin' me is friction_

_**McKenna:**__ Hey sugar what you gotta say?_

_**Ross:**__ It started with a whisper  
And that was when I kissed her  
And then she made my lips hurt_

_**Madison:**__ I can hear the chit-chat  
Take me to your love shack  
Mama's always gotta back track  
When everybody talks back_

_**All:**__  
Everybody talks, everybody talks  
Everybody talks, everybody talks  
Everybody talks, everybody talks...back_

_**Ross:**__ It started with a whisper (__**Madison:**__ Everybody talks, everybody talks)  
And that was when I kissed her (__**Madison:**__ Everybody talks, everybody talks)_

_**All:**__ Everybody talks  
Everybody talks...back!  
Uh!_

I didn't want to join in the applause after what Kitty had said about Olivia, but I knew I had to be polite, especially after seeing Olivia clapping despite what Kitty had said about her beloved wings. Of course, that could be because she didn't know that calling her wings tacky was an insult.

"Next up is Olivia Lynn, doing singing and dancing to _Good Ship Lollipop."_ Olivia marched up onstage with her tutu swooshing along with her. The music started and she began singing. We had spent any free time we had yesterday rehearsing the number and she had completely finished the routine this morning.

_On the good ship lollipop_

_It's a sweet trip to the candy shop_

_Where bon bons play _

_on the sunny beach of peppermint bay_

_Lemonade stands _

_Everywhere_

_Crackerjack bands_

_Fill the air_

_And there you are_

_Happy landings on a chocolate bar._

_See the sugar bowl _

_Do a tootsie roll_

_In a big bad devil's food cake_

_If you eat too much_

_Ooh ooh_

_You'll awake_

_With a tummy ache_

_On the good ship_

_Lollipop_

_It's a nice trip,_

_In to bed you hop,_

_And dream away,_

_On the good ship_

_Lollipop_

She started the tap part of the routine and I saw everyone saying how cute she was. I was proud of her for self-choreographing the routine and teaching herself the lyrics, with only a little help. She began to sing again.

_On the good ship lollipop_

_It's a nice trip_

_Into bed you hop_

I got a little scared because I had no idea what Olivia said here, but nobody seemed to notice

_All aboard for Candy Land_

_All Aboard!_

Everyone clapped really hard as Olivia bowed and smiled, showing off her dimples.

"You're so brave doing this all by yourself," Mr. Schuester said, giving her a high five. "Stay here because up next is Ryder, Marley, Josh and Olivia. Josh isn't going to sing, but he is going to play the drums. Ryder, Marley and Olivia will be singing _A Thousand Years_."

**_Marley:_**_The day we met_

_Frozen, I held my breath_

_Right from the start_

_I knew that I'd found a home for my heart_

_beats fast_

_Colors and promises_

_How to be brave?_

_How can I love when I'm afraid_

_to fall_

_But watching you stand alone?_

_All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow_

**_Olivia:_**_One step closer_

**_Marley and Olivia_**_: I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

**_Ryder_**_: Time stands still_

_Beauty in all she is_

**_Marley and Ryder:_**_I will be brave_

_I will not let anything take_

**_Ryder_**_: ...away_

_What's standing in front_

**_Marley and Ryder_**_: ...of me_

_Every breath_

_Every hour has come to this_

**_Olivia: _**_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

**_Marley_**_: I'll love you for_

**_All:_**_A thousand more_

_And all along, I believed I would find you_

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more..._

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh_

**_Olivia:_**_I'll love you for_

**_Olivia and Ryder:_**_A thousand more!_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh_

**_Olivia:_**_One step closer_

**_Marley and Olivia: _**_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you_

**_Marley and Ryder:_**_For a thousand more_

_And all along, I believed I would find you_

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

**_Olivia:_**_I will love you_

_A thousand years_

_Mmmm, mmmm_

Everyone clapped just like all the other numbers, but I did notice Jake's expression. I remembered that we had sung this song together in high school. I don't have any regrets though. I may have loved Jake in high school, but it was never real. He was never like Ryder, and I'm lucky that Ryder waited for me to come to my senses.

* * *

**Another long chapter! I can't wait for Glee on Thursday! Anyway, I'm debating updating chapter 5 to make them younger. What do you think? I got a couple reviews complaining about how old they were, and after I did the math, I have to agree. I also updated the dance class and competition chapter to make Olivia's dance level a little more realistic. **

**Song Credits: Glee Versions of **Everybody Talks**(originally by Neon Trees), **Just Can't Get Enough**(originally by Depeche Mode), and **A Thousand Miles**(originally by Christina Perri featuring Steve Kazee). Good Ship Lollipop by Sophia Lucia (originally by Shirley Temple).**

**The link for Olivia's Good Ship Lollipop dance is in my bio.**

**Chapter 12 Preview: The Lynn family's last day in Lima before heading back to Pittsburg comes with a confession.**


	12. The Confession

** Sorry for such a long period in updating. My best friend's Bat Mitzvah was yesterday and I had kind of forgotten to get dresses. Yeah, I'm kind of stupid, but it's okay. So what did everybody think of Glee? It should have been called The End of Jarley (sorry, I'm so corny). I heard that Marley agrees to go out with somebody else. Here's hoping that it's Ryder!**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did, It would be on every night**

* * *

"Do we have to go home Mommy," Olivia said, "I love my big bed."

"All your toys are at home though," I replied, only half listening as I tossed Josh and Ryder's dirty laundry into a plastic bag.

"Not all of them," Olivia said, "I have Mr. Bunny and Mrs. Bear and Daffy and Funty." Daffy is Olivia's green stuffed giraffe and Funty is her blue stuffed Elephant.

"That's great honey," I said, pulling Olivia's pink sparkly suitcase out of the closet and tossing her clothes into it, "But we aren't leaving now. We're having lunch with everybody."

"Oh," she replied, hugging Mr. Bunny, "Can I bring my animals?"

"You can bring one," I said, "But not Mrs. Bear because she's all white and I don't want you getting food on her again."

"I never got food on Mrs. Bear," Olivia said, scrunching her nose, which she always did when she was lying.

"Yes you did. Remember the spaghetti and the ice cream and the tacos," I asked, "You got paint oh her too. Pick someone else."

"I pick…Funty," she said excitedly. I smiled at her love for the elephant.

"Good choice," I replied, putting the rest of her animals in her bag of stuff to play with in the car.

"Can I bring TukTuk," Olivia asked. TukTuk is her blanket. She is made of yellow plush and the edges are yellow satin. I nodded in response.

"Where's Daddy," Olivia asked.

"He went downstairs with Josh to get breakfast for us. He'll be back soon," I replied. At that moment, the door opened and Ryder and Josh walked in.

"Hi Daddy," Olivia said happily. She had woken up when Ryder had already left, and although he hadn't really been gone for too long, her separation anxiety had kicked in.

"Hi sleepy head," Ryder said, setting down the plates and bowls he had been carrying, "Buddy, you need a hairbrush."

"Can you get her off of me," Josh said. Olivia was hugging Josh's knees. Her reason was unknown to everyone but herself. I laughed.

"Just wait until you get older, she's going to be your girl-charmer," Ryder said. I rolled my eyes. Ryder removed the four-year-old from Josh's legs and threw her on the bed, making her burst into a fit off giggles and messing up her hair even more.

"I'm hungry," Olivia said, grabbing TukTuk and Funty and sitting on the floor. Ryder put her cereal and pancakes in front of her and gave her the sippy cup filled with apple juice.

"Marley," a voice said from the door, "Can I come in?" I glanced over and saw Santana and Sephora standing in the doorway. I nodded, "Watch out honey. You're about to get syrup on TukTuk." I grabbed the blanket and the elephant before they could get food on them and put them on a table.

"I'm warning you, I saw Kitty and Jake on their way up here. I can stay here if you want," She said. I nodded, glancing at Ryder, "Ryder, Puck said that he wanted you to come down and look at his fantasy football team or something."

_"Thank you,"_ I mouthed. I love him to death, but he isn't good under pressure.

"Okay," he said, "Josh; let's leave the ladies to themselves." They walked out of the room and turned down the hall. I glanced at Sephora, who was pulling bits of pancake off of Olivia's plate and popping them in her mouth.

"Oh, Sephora's just here in case we need to get Olivia out of here," Santana said. I nodded, admiring the amount of thought she had put in a short amount of time.

"Knock, knock," an obnoxious voice said and my heart started to pound. Kitty and Jake were walking through the door, practically tripping Olivia, who spilled her Froot Loops in her haste to back away from them. "I was wondering where you were staying. Why is she on the floor?"

"Kitty," Santana said defensively, "Why are you here."

"I need to ask Marley if she had taken up my advice," Kitty said. Santana looked at me with a confused expression on her face, "I saw the gym on my way up." Realization dawned on Santana's face and I braced myself for the yelling to begin.

"You have got to be kidding me Kitty," Santana said, raising her voice, "We went over this in high school and you know what that led to. You lost sectionals because of it."

"That was high school," Kitty said, rolling her eyes as if this was the most obvious thing anyone could ever say, "She had nothing to lose. Now, she actually has a husband who could leave whenever he wanted."

"Ryder would never leave me," I said, completely honestly.

"You say that now, but wait until you've bloated to your natural weight of five thousand pounds," Kitty shot back.

"Kitty," Jake said quietly, glancing at me.

"Kitty," Santana said, "This has to stop. I'm not afraid to go all Lima Heights on your sorry-"

"Mom," Sephora said sharply, covering Olivia's ears. I signaled to Sephora to get Olivia out of the room. She took Olivia's hand and led her out the door and down the hall of the hotel.

"Stop Kitty," I said, sounding much more ferocious than I had meant to sound.

"Touchy," she said, "No harm meant," I rolled my eyes, "But seriously." She walked out of the room with Jake following close behind, but before he was fully out the door, he glanced back at me. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks and Santana swiftly walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"I'm so sorry Marley," Santana said, "Don't listen to her. Ryder would never leave you."

"But what if he does," I said through my tears, "What if he takes the kids? They're all I have."

"He loves you Marley," Santana said, "He's loved you since he was fifteen."

"I know, I know," I said.

"Pull yourself together," She said, "You don't want Ryder to see you like this, do you? Now come on. We have to be at the restaurant in fifteen minutes and from the looks of it, Olivia hasn't had her hair brushed in a week."

* * *

"Tell me again why we are here," Josh asked.

"Because we have to say goodbye to everybody," I replied, picking Olivia up.

"So we can say bye and then go. Isaac's party is at six," Josh said.

"I promise that we will be home in time for Isaac's party," I said, shifting Olivia to my other side "Why is it so important anyway?"

"Because Sephora's going," Olivia said.

"Olivia," Josh said angrily, "Were you listening to me while I was on the phone?"

"No," Olivia said, scrunching her nose. I raised my eyebrows, "Yes."

"Did you tell Sephora," I asked, because I could tell that Josh had a crush on her, even before Olivia told me.

"No," Olivia said, "I didn't 'cause he said to not tell her, but he didn't say to not tell Mommy."

"Good girl," I said, smiling, "And don't worry Josh, I won't say anything to her."

"Can I go tell Auntie Sana," Olivia asked.

"No," Josh said quickly, "Mom, make her stop."

"I can't," I said, putting Olivia down, "You're a smart person. You can figure out how to stop her. Don't worry though; I'll step in if it's really necessary." Olivia ran towards Santana, with Josh following close behind, desperately trying to catch her. I smiled again. The two had a pretty good relationship, despite the age difference between them. Ryder walked up behind me.

"Should we sit," he asked.

* * *

"Liv," I called, "It's almost time to go."

"Ok Mommy," she replied.

"Marley," Quinn said, "It's been great getting to know you. Remember, I only live about an hour away. We should get together sometime." I nodded.

"Marley," someone said, behind me. I turned around and saw Jake, "Can I talk to you?" I nodded, "I regret what I did to you in high school with Bree. It was wrong and I still regret it to this day. I shouldn't have done it and I should have respected you."

"Um, thank you," I said, confused as to what had brought this on so suddenly, "But that was twenty years ago. Is it really important? We both moved on."

"You may have," Jake said, looking at the floor, "But I don't think I did."

"Jake," I said, stunned by what he had just said, "You're married. You have kids. Don't you care about them?"

"Of course I do, but I think about you every day and what could have been our future," he said desperately.

"Even if we didn't break up, I doubt we would have had a future. Ryder waited for me. He would have waited for me forever. You just got bored with me, which would have happened anyway."

"Maybe not," He said.

"What would you do about this now," I asked, perplexed, "I'm sorry Jake but I like my life now."

"I'm okay with that," He said. I felt someone tugging on my shirt and looked down to see Olivia, with food all over her shirt and face from eating dinner, holding TukTuk and Funty and smearing Mac and Cheese all over them. I snatched them away from her before any major damage could be done.

"Daddy told me to tell you that we have to go if we're going to be home by the party. Auntie Sana and Uncle Puck already left. Auntie Sana said that she's coming to pick Josh up at five thirty to get there in time."

"Are you a little crazy," I asked, smiling at her antics.

"Daddy let me get a Sprite and he let me finish his Coke," She said, shaking in excitement.

"You are so cute," I said picking her up to calm her down.

"I know," she replied.

"I'm sorry Jake," I said, "I hope we can stay in touch," I had given him my number a couple days ago, "Goodbye."

"Bye-bye Jakey," Olivia called over my shoulder, waving to him. I looked at him and rolled my eyes and laughed. To my relief, he smiled back, and waved in farewell.

* * *

** Long chapter, huh? Hopefully I will begin to update regularly soon. I heard the season four of Glee is going to be on Netflix on November 30th. I'm deliriously excited! I updated some of the chapters to make Olivia three years old instead of four, just because I wanted to and I made the adults a little younger.**

** Chapter 13 Preview: Santana has some ideas for Olivia that she forgets to mention to Marley.**


	13. The Pageant

** YES! RYLEY HAPPENED! You should have seen me on Thursday. I was literally screaming "RYLEY" at the top of my lungs. My dad now thinks that I am insane. Sorry for taking so long to update. I haven't been able to get to a computer lately.**

** Disclaimer: I wish I owned Glee, but I don't and it's making me sad.**

* * *

"Santana," I yelled down the hallway, "What's Olivia saying about a pageant?"

"Oh yeah," Santana said guiltily, "I signed Olivia up for a pageant."

"What," I shrieked, "You know I think pageants are child abuse."

"She asked me," Santana said, "Right Olivia."

"Yes," Olivia called from her bedroom.

"Come here honey," I said, "Since when have you wanted to do a pageant?"

"Since I saw Maddie do one. And because it looks fun," I turned to Santana.

"If I say yes, am I going to have to do anything," I asked.

"No," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"You'll do the choreographing," she nodded, "and the costumes?"

"Yes Marley," she said, "She asked me if she could do one and I said yes."

"Ok fine," I said, sighing.

"Thank you Mommy," Olivia said, hugging my knees.

* * *

"This child is a maniac," Santana said after forty five minutes of running routines with her.

"You should have done something about it more than two days before the pageant," I said, watching Olivia rolling herself up in a rug.

"I'm a bug in a rug," Olivia screeched. I laughed.

"Why are you laughing," Santana asked, "You have to discipline her."

"For what," I asked, "Being a child?"

"Why isn't she like this at dance," Santana asked.

"Because Abby terrifies her," I replied, "Again, why did you wait?"

"I didn't wait. I was getting her outfits," She replied.

"Outfits," I repeated, "How many?"

"Beauty, Outfit of Choice and Talent. She's dancing," she replied.

"Oh," I replied, "Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Marley," Santana cried, "Don't leave me with her. She's crazy."

"Good luck," I called, halfway down the hallway.

* * *

"Are you ready Olivia," Santana asked, "You're up next."

"I know," She said.

"You're going to impress the judges because you're the only girl so far to not have their parents helping them."

"I know," Olivia replied, "You already told me. I like to perform."

"Up next," the announcer said, "in the 3-4 year old category is Olivia." Olivia began her beauty walk showing the judges her dimples. Her pink and orange dress suited her perfectly and she looked happy to be on the stage again. She was given another week off dance because she was too young to compete in this competition and she had been really bored. I heard someone groan next to me. I looked over and saw Josh and Ryder slumped identically in their seats. The groan had come from Josh, who wasn't used to being dragged to all of Olivia's things.

"Why are we here," Ryder asked, "Josh and I could be watching the basketball game."

"I'm so tired," Josh complained loudly.

"Yes, because sitting is just so draining," I said rolling my eyes as Olivia exited the stage

"Yes," Josh cried, "It's over! Let's go."

"Wait," I called to Josh, who was already halfway down the aisle, "She's done with beauty, but she still needs to do outfit-of-choice and talent." Ryder and Josh fell back into their seats.

"This is endless," Josh said, "Maybe we could watch the game on your phone."

"Dude," Ryder said, "You're a genius." I rolled my eyes. I have three children sometimes.

* * *

"Up next in the 3-4 year old age category is Olivia," the announcer called. I elbowed Ryder who shut his phone off.

"What," Josh whined.

"I know I can't stop you watching the game, but I want you to at least watch Olivia do her routine." Olivia ran onstage in her Minnie Mouse dress and she started her routine. _Minnie's Bowtique _pulsed through the speakers as Olivia paraded across the stage. I could tell that the judges were impressed that she could do the entire routine without any help. For all the other kids in her age division, they had their parents behind the judges showing them what to do, and frankly looking a bit ridiculous. Olivia smiled and waved as she walked off stage and the judges bent down to score her performance. I watched her run to Santana and give her a big hug and I smiled. I was grateful to have a friend like Santana to help me when I was having a hard time.

"Long time no see loser," an obnoxious voice said. I turned around to see Kitty, Jake, Madison, McKenna and Ross walking down the aisle, "What brings you here. Olivia couldn't be doing a pageant. It's cruel to have children experience losing."

"Kitty," Ryder said, "Stop. You can torture us, but don't take out any of your issues on a three year old."

"Kitty," Jake said softly, "Let's just go. Madison needs to go on soon." I could tell that he was thinking about our conversation at Breadstix less than three weeks ago. They continued down the aisle and I tried to force the lump forming in my throat back down. As much as I wanted to break down, I knew I couldn't for multiple reasons. The main reason was that Olivia was coming on again for her talent routine. She was doing another tap routine to the song "Baby Face". The music started and she started tapping. Her pink glittery tap shoes which she had fawned over for hours sparkled in the lights. When she finished her routine, the audience erupted in applause and she walked offstage. It almost made me forget about what Kitty had said to me and it defiantly had proven it wrong.

* * *

"It's time to begin the crowning," the announcer, "If I could have all the 3-4 year olds up to the stage," Olivia ran onstage with all the other girls, "Just a reminder, if you aren't crowned in your age division it means you could have pulled for a higher title." As they crowned the princesses and the queen, I saw Olivia's face light up when she wasn't called. She won divisional most photogenic, best hair, best smile and best eyes. After the crowning she ran back to our seats. We watched all the other crowning and I saw that Madison wasn't given a divisional crown either. Olivia was excited by that. The two were actually really good friends.

"We are now going to call all the contestants who pulled for higher titles." The announcer read off a list of names, including Olivia's and Madison's. They ran onstage and stood next to each other. Hand in hand, the two listened to the announcer call mini supreme novice supreme and advanced supreme. Soon, the only two left were Olivia and Madison.

"The title of Ultimate Grand Supreme goes to Olivia! The title of Grand Supreme goes to Madison," the announcer said. The audience applauded Olivia and Madison and I smiled, seeing the two hugging. I felt Kitty's eyes burning a hole in my head from where she was sitting behind me. It was amusing that Madison was eight and was less of a sore loser than her mother. Olivia ran back to our seats, with Madison following close behind.  
"Good job girls," I said, hugging Olivia.

"We got money," Olivia said excitedly, waving it around. I laughed, grabbing it from her sticky fingers. The pageant gave the kids Pixy Stix and Olivia had way too many and was acting a little crazy, "Hey," she cried, "Mommy, give that back. It's mine!"

"I know it is honey, but I don't want you to lose it," I replied, sticking the money in my purse.

"My mom is calling me," Madison said. I looked back to see Kitty gesturing to Madison, "Bye Olivia!"

"Bye Madison," Olivia called as Madison ran up the aisle to her family. Olivia turned to Ryder, "Daddy, you have to get my trophy. I couldn't lift it. It's five feet tall. I got a dance trophy bigger than that." I nodded. Santana came up to where we were sitting.

"You better be happy with her," she said, "She threw the loudest temper tantrum I have ever experienced when we were putting on the fake eyelashes. She had way too much sugar, I'm warning you now."

"I am happy with her, but you walked into the crazy yourself," I replied, "I'm impressed. You put together some good routines. Especially in only two days."

"Thank you," she replied, sitting down in Ryder's empty seat, who had taken Olivia to get her trophy, "I saw Kitty and Jake walk in. Did they saw anything to you?"

"Kitty was just being obnoxious," I replied, "It's fine."

"Okay," Santana said skeptically, "Just tell me if anything happens."

"I know," I replied, "I will."

**So what do you think. Inspiration for this chapter came from marceltheshellwithshoeson. Thank you so much!**

**Chapter 14 Preview: Ryder is home alone with Olivia and has no idea what to do**


	14. The Home Alone

**Call me insane, but I think that I took way too long to write this chapter. I'm switching things up a little bit for this chapter. Usually it's from Marley's point of view, but for this chapter, it really wouldn't do much good for the story line, so today, it's Ryder's point of view!**

** Disclaimer: To my disappointment, I don't own Glee.**

* * *

"Marley," I complained, "Please don't leave me alone with her. Can't I just take Josh?"

"You take Josh to everything. Missing one swim meet isn't going to change anything," Marley replied, zipping up her suitcase, "But you don't spend enough time with your daughter."

"I went to that dance competition," I protested.

"Last month," she reminded me, "and anyway, it's only one night and if you do it, she'll love you forever."

"Fine, but only because I don't think I have a choice," I said.

"Nope. Josh, let's go," Marley called down the hallway.

"Wait, we're going today," he said confusedly, "I had a question. What's the name of it?"

"Um, Four Seasons Swim Meet," Marley replied. I sniggered and Marley shot me a Look.  
"Is that a typo," Josh asked.

"No," Marley replied, "Why would you think that?"

"Because there's five seasons. Winter, spring, summer, autumn and fall," He said. Marley looked at me with wide eyes.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I said reassuringly. Josh isn't the best student in the world, but he tries really hard, and it may not seem possible, but he's gotten a lot better.

"You're right," she said, "You're right. Josh, you have five minutes to pack if you don't want to be late," she turned to me, "If you think that you'll be having a hard time, I have to deal with Mr. Five Seasons over here."

"I'm ready," Josh said breathlessly, running out of his room with a backpack slung over his shoulder, "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Great," Marley replied, "Where's Olivia?"

"She's in the kitchen having a snack," I said as we all walked down the hallway.

"Livi," Marley called, "Josh and I have to go honey."

"No Mommy," Olivia screeched, "Please don't leave me with daddy!"

"Sorry buddy," I said, "You're stuck with me." I silently counted down in my head until she blew up. She threw herself out of the chair and started kicking and screaming on the floor.

"NONONONONONONO," She screamed.

"Bye honey," Marley said over her cries, "I'll be home when you wake up tomorrow," she turned back to me, "If she doesn't quiet down in two hours, call me and I'll talk to her. It's a bath night, and no declaring a bath holiday. You've played that card before and I don't buy it. Remember, she's allergic to tomatoes and she needs TukTuk and all four of her animals to sleep. I put everything else you need to know on the paper on the kitchen counter. If you need anything else, call Santana. Her number is on the fridge with everybody else's numbers. If you can't reach Santana, call Puck or one of the moms from dance. I'll be home around two in the morning."

"I know Marley," I said, "It'll be fine. Good luck Josh. Have fun!" Josh took his suitcase and walked out the door. Marley stepped forward and gave me a hug.

"You're going to do fine. She's just exhausted," She said.

"I know," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "Call me when you get there."

"I will," she replied, pulling away from the hug to pry Olivia off her ankles, "Honey, Mommy has to go now." She cried even louder in response and held on tighter to her mother. I managed to pull her off and I cradled her in my arms and tried to avoid her flailing arms and legs. Marley walked out the door, waving goodbye as I tried to hold down my crazy daughter.

"Are we going to have fun today," I asked Olivia, trying to sound excited while at the same time trying to not drop her.

"I. WANT. MOMMY," She screamed, and I flinched, setting her down, just to grab her again before she ran for the still open front door. I quickly shut it and brought her to the family room, where I put her down and turned on the football game. I can just let her work off the tantrum by herself.

* * *

I turned the volume up on the phone so I could hear it over Olivia's screams.

"Hey Ryder," Marley said, picking up on the first ring, "Did she quiet down?"

"No. What am I supposed to do," I asked desperately.

"Put the phone on speaker and let me talk to her," Marley replied calmly. I pushed the speaker button and grabbed Olivia. I sat down on the couch with her in my lap.

"Talk to Mommy," I said, handing over the phone.

"Hi Mommy," she said, "Do you need help? Are you stuck in the phone?"

"No honey, I'm good," Marley replied, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Olivia replied, sniffling, "When are you coming home?"

"I'll be home when you wake up tomorrow morning," she replied, "Until then; I want you to have fun with Daddy. Okay?"

"Okay," She said grudgingly, "But what can I do with Daddy?"

"You can play dress up or restaurant or build a fort or read a book," Marley suggested.

"I wanna build a fort," Olivia said excitedly.

"Ok then," Marley said, "I have to go honey. Have fun with Daddy." She hung up the

phone and Olivia looked at me.  
"How do you make a fort," she asked.

"We need to move all of the furniture out of the way," I said, and she helped me push the couch and tables to the corners of the room, "Then we have to put sheets over the chairs," I continued, and we draped sheets and tablecloths over the wooden dining room chairs.

Can we use the couch," Olivia asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Good idea." I pulled the couch back over and pulled another sheet over it.

* * *

For the next twenty five minutes, Olivia kept suggesting pieces of furniture to cover with sheets. Our fort had evolved into more of a house as it spread through three rooms, so Olivia would be able to get to the bathroom and kitchen without leaving the sanction of the fort. I looked at the clock and saw that it was already five thirty and Olivia needed to eat dinner. I stooped down and crawled through the fort to get through the kitchen, hitting my head on a bookshelf as I emerged into the kitchen. As I rubbed my forehead, I opened the fridge in hope of inspiration of what to make for dinner. All of a sudden I heard a crash from the family room, and in my haste to see what damage had been done, I didn't notice that I had tipped over a glass of milk onto the kitchen counter.

"Daddy," Olivia cried, "My fort's broken."

"We'll try to fix it," I said, not expecting to see what I saw when I stepped into the family room. It looked like the domino effect had taken out the majority of the fort, "It's okay honey." I picked up Olivia and carried her into the kitchen and was about to set her down in a chair when I realized that there weren't any there. Olivia giggled and ran off to get some. As she went, she called over her shoulder, "Daddy, why is the counter dripping." I looked over and saw the glass on its side and the milk quickly spreading across the counter. I grabbed some paper towels and mopped up the mess, but saw to my dismay, that the paper Marley had left for me was soaking wet and the words had run and were completely illegible.

"Oh no," I said under my breath, "This isn't good. This is not good."

"I'm hungry Daddy," Olivia said, dragging two chairs behind her.

"I know honey," I said, trying to decipher the remaining words on the paper, "What do you want."

"A peanut butter sandwich," she said. I quickly made her one and set it in front of her. I took the piece of paper Marley left for me. I saw the word tomatoes, which was obviously to remind me the Olivia is allergic to tomatoes, and the words "blow up". Could Olivia blow up if she ate tomatoes? Is that possible?

"Hey Olivia," I said, "Is there anything that could make you blow up?"

"I don't know," she said, her mouth full of peanut butter. I can't call Marley and ask her because I don't want her to worry and come home. I have to figure this out myself, "All done," Olivia said.

"What do you do now," I asked more to myself than to her, "Oh, Mommy said you need a bath tonight."

"No no," Olivia said.

"Yes yes," I replied, taking her hand and walking with her to the bathroom, "and if you don't, I'm going to tell Mommy." I helped her run the water and get in the tub. I got a bag of bath toys, including bath crayons and foam shapes that stuck to the side of the tub. She splashed in the lukewarm water and screamed when I accidentally got shampoo in her eyes, and soon enough, she was standing in her bedroom, wearing just her underwear, trying to pick out her pajamas.

"Olivia," I said, "We've been doing this for fifteen minutes. At least narrow it down to three, and I'll pick one."

"Okay," she agreed, "It's between the pandas, the owls and the kitties."

"I pick," I said, hesitating while I considered my options, "the owls."

"No," Olivia said, "I want the pandas." She picked them up and put them on. We walked back into the bathroom and she brushed her teeth and I brushed her hair and put it into two disheveled pigtails. I tucked her into bed, surrounding her with her stuffed animals. She looked at me with her thumb in her mouth, holding TukTuk in her other hand.

"Okay," I said, "Goodnight."

"Daddy," Olivia said, sounding dismayed, "Aren't you going to read to me like Mommy does?"

"Um, what do you want to read I want to read," I asked, not expecting that I would have to do this.

"I want to read all my Thanksgiving books that Mommy and I got at the library," she said, grabbing a pile of books," she said hopefully. I widened my eyes at the size at the pile.

"How about you pick three," I suggested, and together we read _Happy Thanksgiving Curious George_, _Thanksgiving Mice_, and '_Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving_. She had fallen asleep during the third book, and I was about to get up out of Olivia's bed, when I saw that if I moved, I would wake her up. She had draped herself across me with her head on my stomach and her feet hanging off the side of the bed. I sighed, and let myself drift to sleep.

* * *

I woke up to a soft tapping on Olivia's door. I looked up and saw Marley standing in the doorway, with her eyebrows raised and a smile on her face.

"I guess things went okay," Marley whispered, gesturing to Olivia. I had my arm wrapped around her and she had tucked herself in next to me, and she hadn't woken up when her mother arrived, "You forgot to drain the tub," Marley added, "But besides that you did pretty well. You probably shouldn't get up unless you want to deal with a tantrum yourself. I'm too exhausted to even deal with her right now." I nodded.

"I have a question," I said, "Is there anything that makes Olivia blow up."

"No," Marley said, "May I ask why."

"Because on the sheet you left me, I spilled something on it and it made all the letters run and the only words were "blow up"," I said very quickly.

"Oh," Marley said, as realization dawned on her face, "It said that if you have trouble getting her in the bath, blow up the inflatable frog. She loves that." I nodded in relieve. I glanced at Olivia who was still sleeping peacefully.

"Did you know that she points her toes in her sleep," I asked. She nodded.

"Sometimes she sleeps in passé," Marley said, smiling, "Don't let her wake me up tomorrow," she said, as she turned around to go to bed, "If she does I'm sending her back to you."

* * *

"Daddy, wake up," a voice cried, way too early in the morning. I opened my eyes and instantly shielded them with my hands to block out the sunlight. I sat up and saw Olivia sitting in her panda pajamas on my stomach. I threw her off of me, making burst into a fit of giggles.

"Why did you wake me up so early you goofball," I asked, smiling at her.

"Because I'm hungry and Mommy said to not wake her up," she said, her blue eyes shining, "Mommy makes me pancakes on Sundays. I could just get Mommy to make them for me."

"No," I said, throwing the blankets off of me and sitting up, "Don't wake Mommy up. I'm awake. I'll make them."

"And bacon and eggs," she asked imploringly.

"Yes to bacon, no to eggs," I said.

"Cool," she said excitedly, jumping on the bed, "I was sure you'd say no to both." I took her hand and walked with her to the kitchen.

"What kind of pancakes does Mommy make," I asked.

"The recipe is in the big red book and it has a star on it," she said, and I pulled it out and flipped to the chapter devoted to pancakes. The first recipe, which was for plain pancakes, had a star next to the recipe, which I assumed was the star Olivia was referring to. I got Olivia her pink and purple apron out of the closet and tied it around her.

"Okay," I said, making sure to read the recipe very carefully, "I need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, an egg, and vegetable oil." I got the ingredients from various parts of the kitchen, along with all the necessary utensils.

"What can I get," Olivia asked. The first unbreakable thing I could think of was paper towels, which became necessary very quickly. First, Olivia missed the bowl when she was cracking the egg and she spilled the second tablespoon of oil on herself. The major catastrophe was when she turned on the beaters just as I was lowering them into the batter and it sprayed everywhere. Covering the ceilings, walls and floors with the sticky substance and getting in our hair and all over our clothes. Luckily, Olivia's new pajamas were spared because of the apron and I wasn't wearing clothes I really cared about, but I knew I would have to give Olivia another bath. Finally, Olivia and I finished the pancakes and were watching the bacon sizzle on the pan. I pulled the pancakes off the frying pan and onto a large plate and tipped the bacon off its pan and onto another plate.

"It smells so good," Olivia said excitedly, inhaling animatedly, "Can I eat now?"

"Yeah," I said, and put a couple pieces of bacon and two pancakes onto her pink plastic plate and poured syrup on top. I set the plate in front of Olivia made myself a plate.

"Are these as good as Mommy's," I asked.

"Mommy's pancakes are better but your bacon is better than hers," she said, her mouth full with pancakes. I heard a quiet laugh and I glanced over at the doorway and saw Marley standing there smiling, taking in the kitchen and all of its pancake batter covered glory.

"You did it," she said.

* * *

**Is this my longest chapter or what? I was going to write a Thanksgiving chapter, but I decided not to because by the time I finished, it would probably be Christmas already. My family started decorating for Christmas today. I have a six year old sister, so the holiday season is always so fun. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! **

** Chapter 15 Preview: The whole family goes to Josh's swim meet.**


	15. The Swim Meet

** Yay! I'm back on again! I've been so sporadic lately with my updating.**

**Disclaimer: It is with a heavy heart that I admit that the exclusive rights to Glee aren't mine, nor will they ever be. Sigh.**

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia asked, "Why do I have to go to this?"

"Because Josh went to your dance competition and your pageant," I replied, sitting on the bleachers of the middle school pool, "You're lucky I'm only making you go to a home meet. Josh and Daddy had to drive an hour away to get to the dance competition."

"We've been sitting forever," Olivia moaned, "When's it going to start?"

"Soon honey," I said, only half listening as I tried to find Josh, "Be patient."

"Hey," Ryder said, jogging to the bleachers and sitting down next to Olivia, "They're starting now."

"I wanna go home," Olivia said loudly.

"Alrighty," the man announcing the competition said into his microphone, "Is everybody ready," there was spattering of applause from the bleachers, "The first race we have today is the boys 50 meter crawl," I breathed a sigh of relief, because Josh wasn't competing in that category. I watched about ten boys Josh's age, including his friend Isaac, stepping up onto the starting blocks. I blocked Olivia's ears as the announcer blew the air horn. Olivia winced. The boys dived off the blocks and I tried to follow Isaac, but he kept getting lost in the splashes of water. About two minutes later, a boy from another team touched the wall. I saw Josh's disappointed face sitting with the rest of his team. The coach sent Carley, the girl competing in the girls 50 meter crawl, up to the starting block.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Josh's team had won the girls crawl, butterfly and breaststroke, and the boys backstroke. The coach sent the four kids competing in the four hundred relay up to the starting block. Ryan, who would be starting the relay with backstroke, jumped into the pool. The horn went off, and Ryan kicked off the wall. He was good at the stroke and was ahead until the three times he had to do a flip turn, where he would get behind. He finished with only one person in front of him, and Amelia dived into the pool to start breaststroke. Amelia is very good at breaststroke, so she pulled ahead quickly and completed the four laps in no time. Sara dived into the pool, starting the butterfly. Butterfly is not our strong suit. Fortunately, it isn't anybody else's and we didn't lose much time. Only one girl passed us and there team was Josh's big competition.

"Is Josh ever going to swim," Olivia asked, sounding very bored.

"Yes," I replied, trying to sound patient when I was terrified for Josh. His last relay hadn't gone well and they hadn't gotten ninth, but two weeks of intensive training has gone by and they have improved a lot, "See," I said, pointing to Sara, "When she touches the side of the pool, Josh is going to start." I saw Josh biting his lower lip, which he only does when he is nervous. Just as Sara touched the edge of the pool, Josh neatly dived over her into the water. He started the crawl and all of the corrections came flooding back into my head. If he overreaches, his back will arch and he'll slow down. He has to bend his arms sooner underwater and he has to keep his fingers opened, instead of clenching them like he tends to do. He was flying past everybody and his flip turns were smooth. Soon enough he was on the second set of laps. The whole room was screaming encouragement for him and Sara and Amelia was standing on the starting block to see him better, shouting his name. Even Olivia looked excited as she stood on her seat to see better, not that there was much of a difference in her height. The girl in lane four was ahead of him, but she wasn't very good and Josh swiftly passed her and did his flip turn on the far end of the pool. He began his final sprint, passing the boy in lane eight, pulling himself faster and faster through the water until my main concern was that he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He did manage it though, grabbing onto the wall as the room burst into applause. Sara and Ryan pulled him out of the water and they hugged as the rest of the team ran over. Even Olivia was clapping for her older brother and Ryder was on the verge of jumping out of his seat with excitement. Josh ran over holding a trophy, which is the first one that he's gotten since the one everybody in the grade got when he graduated elementary school.

"Good job, Josh," Ryder said, "How does it feel to be in first place?"

"Awesome," Josh said.

* * *

**So we saw more of Josh today. I think I've been writing to much Olivia, but she's just so fun to write about. Let's face it, teenagers are boring. I'm one of them myself. Happy Thanksgiving anyway (to all Americans)!**

**Chapter 16 Preview: Marley and Ryder take Olivia for a special doctor's appointment.**


	16. The Doctor

**Hi again. I'm back! Happy holidays everyone! 17 days until Christmas! I'm stressing out.  
Disclaimer: Emma's hair is red, Dani's is blue, I don't own Glee and neither do you.**

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia said as I buckled her into her car seat, "Why can't I say my ABC's like all the other kids?"  
"You don't know you're ABC's," I said, shutting the car door and sitting in the driver's seat, "I thought you did?"  
"Nope," Olivia said, "I don't know numbers either. Or how to spell my name."  
"Oh," I said thoughtfully.

* * *

"Ryder," I said cautiously, "Can I talk to you about something."  
"Yeah," he said, swiveling around in his chair. I was standing in his office at home. I had just put down Olivia for her nap.  
"Did you know that Olivia doesn't know the alphabet yet?"  
"Most kids don't," he said.  
"No," I said, "She doesn't know any of it. She stopped after "C" and the only reason she knows those three is because of the name of the song."  
"Why is this suddenly a problem," he asked, turning back to his desk.  
"Well, because I think she might have-," I hesitated, "Please don't get mad at me but I think she might have dyslexia." Ryder didn't say anything. He just looked at me, "Please say something. I set up an appointment with a learning disability specialist. Ryder, can you please say something."  
"Am I coming to the appointment," he asked. I smiled.

* * *

"Where am I going," Olivia asked from the backseat of the car.  
"Um…we're going to a doctor," I said.  
"Are they going to give me a lollipop," she asked.  
"Maybe," I said, only half listening. I glanced at Ryder. He was drumming his fingers against the console of the car and tapping his foot on the floor. I grabbed his hand, "It's going to be okay Ryder."  
We pulled into the children's dyslexia center and Olivia hopped out of the car.

* * *

"Hello," a man said, gesturing for us to come into his office. Olivia looked taken aback. She had been picturing a doctors office, but when we walked in, I saw a comfertable looking room. It had blue carpeting, a desk with a computer and a few pictures on it, a bookshelf, a filing cabinet and a wooden table and four chairs. We sat down and Olivia shifted off her seat and into my lap.  
"I'm Dr. Brian," the man said, "I heard someone has been having some trouble learning. I'm going to have Olivia do a few tests for me. From what you said over the phone, it sounds like she has dyslexia." I glanced at Olivia, who was looking up at Dr. Brian with wide eyes. Brian got out a pile of cards from a desk drawer.  
"Okay Olivia," he said, "I want you to tell me what letter is on the card." He held up an uppercase J.  
"G," Olivia said. Dr. Brian made a note on a paper and held up another card, this time with a lowercase f on it.  
"T," Olivia said. The next card had an uppercase O on it.  
"Zero," Olivia said, and a small smile formed on my lips.

* * *

Over the next five minutes, she and Dr. Brian did the same thing. Olivia got two right. A lowercase b and an uppercase C. The next card had an upside down ɐ on it. Olivia didn't even say anything. She just looked at it. Dr. Brian put the card down.

* * *

After running a few more test, Dr. Brian put down his clipboard.  
"I believe that Olivia. has dyslexia," he said.  
"You believe," Ryder said, sounding perplexed, "Why aren't you sure?"  
"Because of her age," Dr. Brian replied, "She's too young for me to be positive, but her comprehension is far below most kids her age. As for what you can do, just read to her all the time. She will be able to learn how to read. It just might take a little time. Patience is the best thing I can give you." I nodded. Glancing at Ryder, who was hanging on to every word, "The first step would be to teach her the alphabet. It could take a day or a month. It's all fine."  
"I was thinking of maybe homeschooling her," I said and Ryder's head snapped over to me, "It hasn't really been something discussed yet. I haven't even mentioned it to Ryder. I just think that it would be easier. Is homeschooling a valid option?"  
"You'd be suprised how often I'm asked that question," Dr. Brian said, "It depends on the child. If you are going to start, I would start as soon as possible. Is she in school already?"  
"Yeah," I replied, "She started preschool in September."  
"If you want to try, I suggest trying now before it's too late. It's a good choice because it's a lot more one on one."  
"What do you think Ryder," I asked, knowing that this whole whole thing.  
"I think that we should try. I remember from school that doing work one on one was really helpful. I think we should try it," Ryder said. I smiled.  
"According to your school, you have to wait until the end of the calender year to pull her out," Dr. Brian said, "But that won't really be a problem because that's next month. I'll email you the paperwork about pulling her out and some stuff about homeschooling." We got up and Ryder shook Dr. Brian's hand.  
"Thank you," he said, picking up Olivia. The three of us walked out of the office and to the car. Ryder buckled Olivia into her car seat and sat in the passenger seat.  
"Did that feel good," I asked him.  
"Yeah," Ryder replied, "Yeah, it did."

* * *

**So, Olivia's ending her school career before it began. I've been taking huge breaks and I wish I wasn't. I'm not updating until Saturday this week because of my crazy schedule and all the holiday shopping.  
Chapter 17 ****Preview: Olivia's last day of school**


	17. The Shoot

**Hey! I'm back. Can I please ask for no hate this chapter? For those who don't know, today is the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. The events hit me especially hard, not only because I am a neighboring town of Newtown and I knew a couple of the families who lost loved ones, but because at the time, my little sister Lucy was five, which was about the age of most of the children killed. My heart goes out to all the families that lost loved ones that day. 20 children were killed; all ages six and seven, along with six adults. I've been having kind of a rough time and I've already cried twice. Just take it easy on me for a little bit.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, but I'm too depressed to come up with a clever way to say it.**

* * *

"You have to get ready buddy," Ryder said to Olivia, throwing his coat on and hanging his laptop bag off of his shoulder, "You only have two more weeks left until you're done." Olivia ran over for a hug, but Ryder dodged out of the way, "Sorry honey, but I'm already so late for work." Olivia looked up at him with hurt eyes as he grabbed his keys and ran out the door.

"Come on honey," I said, taking her hand and bringing her to the family room, where her clothes were laying on the floor. She took off her owl pajamas and I helped her pull on her pink sparkly tights, white turtle neck, and coral corduroy dress that she had fallen in love with, because it had an embroidered hippo wearing a tutu. I pulled her hair into two curly pigtails tied with curly hair ties while she put on her coral eyelet ballet flats, "Ready," I asked. Olivia nodded, twirling around to make her dress flair out.

* * *

"Bye honey," I said, waving out the car window. She waved back, before running up the school walkway where her teacher was waiting for her.

* * *

At 9:34 the TV in the kitchen went into one of those alerts, which I figured was for the harsh December weather we had been having.

"If your child goes to John Adams Preschool in Pittsburg Pennsylvania," My heart dropped to my stomach as I dropped the pink plastic bowl I was drying back into the sink. I looked at Josh (he had stayed home sick from school), who's face had gone so white; it rivaled that of Dracula's, "Your child could be in serious danger. A mass murderer has broken into the school," My heart stopped beating, "Said murderer has three weapons, a semi-automatic rifle and two pistols. Police are at the scene and we urge you to go to the fire station next to the school to wait for further instruction. Do not approach the school without permission from an official." I couldn't move. Finally, I came to my senses and grabbed a coat and my phone and car keys. Josh followed me to the car, pulling on a jacket. As I backed the car out of the driveway, I tried to call Ryder. First I tried his work phone, which he rarely answered anyway. He didn't pick up and I left a message in the hopes that he would check it for once. Next I tried his cell, but all I got was his voicemail.

"Now what," Josh asked.

"We have to go to the fire station," I replied, trying to stay calm for his sake, but really trying to force down the feeling to pass out, throw up and burst into tears all at the same time. I pulled the car into the large fire station parking lot that was steadily filling. Already, I saw many parents in hysterics, but one person stood out to me because he looked really familiar, but he had a hat on so I couldn't really tell. All of a sudden, the person swung around and I saw it was Ryder. In the time it took me to recognize him, Josh had leapt out of the car and was weaving through the cars, narrowly avoiding a car door swinging open, and hugged his father. I ran out of the car and into Ryder's arms, finally breaking down.

"It's okay Marls," Ryder said soothingly, "She'll be fine."

"How did you find out," I asked through my sobs.

"The radio," Ryder replied softly, "A fireman said that they shooter killed himself."

"Did he do anything else," I asked.

"They don't know. They're just starting to go into the school now," he said nervously.

* * *

"I didn't hug her," Ryder said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, startled by his sudden outburst.

"She wanted to give me a hug before I left and I didn't. That could be her last memory of me," He said, tears streaming down his face.

* * *

After five more minutes, a trail of kids came out of the school hand in hand, led by four police officers. A crowd of parents ran over to the kids. Ryder glanced at me. I shook my head.

"Not her class," I said to his unasked question.

* * *

That's how it went for the next half an hour. Every couple minutes, another class would come out, with the occasional police officer or EMT walking over to a family. Some would burst into tears, and others would be lead over to stretchers or into ambulances. I had kept track of how many classes had come out and out of the twelve classes; ten had been lead out of the school in the same fashion as the first. The last two remaining classes were first year preschoolers. The crowd at the fire station had thinned out and about thirty people remained. Finally, another class came out. Terrifyingly, only half the class appeared and their clothes were stained with ominous red streaks. It wasn't Olivia's class. At that moment, a man wearing an EMT uniform walked up to us.

"Are you the Lynn family," he asked. I tried to move my lips, but no words came out.

"Yes," Ryder said for me, taking my hand and squeezing it.

"You'd better come with me," the EMT said. He led us to an ambulance. I didn't automatically recognize her, but I saw the hippo on the dress she was wearing. I gasped. Josh winced and Ryder's breath caught in his throat. She was covered in blood and was looking incredibly small lying on the bright orange stretcher.

"We weren't able to locate any bullet wounds and she has a normal pulse," the man said, "We have no idea why she's unconscious." I stumbled over to her and took her little hand and held it. I jumped away though, when I felt her squeeze back. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Olivia," I cried, "You're alive." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"What," she asked.

"I found you lying in a puddle of blood in your classroom," the man asked, "Do you remember when you fell." She nodded, "Can you tell me," He asked. She shook her head.

"Why not," I asked.

"He's a stranger and you told me never to talk to strangers," She said.

"Well," the man said, his eyes twinkling, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Max and my job is to make sure you feel better. I have a twelve year old daughter named Emilie. She has three bunnies named Peanut Butter, because he's all tan, Oreo, because she is all black with a stripe of white in the middle and Marshmallow and she's all white." Olivia giggled, her blue eyes shining, "Can you tell me now? Can you tell me how you fell?"

"I heard the loud noises and the screaming and when I saw Callie fall and start bleeding I remembered how possums play dead when someone bad comes so I just pretended to be dead like a possum," Olivia explained.

"Why didn't you get up when I took you here," Max asked.

"I thought you were a bad guy that was going to take me away for ever and ever," she said, "Can I take a bath now? This stuff smells funny."

"I have one more question for you," Max said, "Do you know what happened today? Do you know what it is about?"

"No. I had my eyes closed," She replied.

"Good," Max said, turning to Ryder and I, "At this age, we don't want them to know. I wouldn't talk to her too much about it. We are closing the school temporarily for some recovery time for everybody. She was the only one to make it from her class. I would explain why she won't see her friends anymore, but don't talk about the shooting in too much depth. Hopefully, the bad memories will fade away."

"Can we just take her home," I asked. He nodded, grabbing her backpack from the ambulance.

"We took this from the cubbies. The picture matched hers," he asked. I nodded, taking it from him. Olivia hopped out of the ambulance, looking down at her blood splattered dress. Her tights had remained untouched, for some strange reason. I pulled her dress off and threw it in a nearby trash can, leaving Olivia in her white turtleneck and pink sparkly tights. With the coral shoes and blood streaked pigtails, she wearing quite the outfit. Ryder noticed Olivia shivering and he picked her up, cradling her in his arms. Tears rolled down my cheeks out of happiness that Olivia was okay, and despair for all the lives lost. Ryder pulled Josh and me into a hug, with Olivia in the middle. We broke apart, with Olivia still clinging to Ryder's neck and my arm around Josh. The four of us walked back to the car. Ryder handed me Olivia, who had stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes, and he sat in his car, with Josh sitting in the passenger seat. I waved to them. I buckled Olivia into her carseat and drove home.

* * *

Are you okay Olivia," I asked. Ryder, Olivia and I were sitting on the couch that same day. She sat in Ryder's lap, playing with a strand of my hair. She hadn't said anything all day and she had turned down being taken to dance early, although she did agree to go later. I had put on a Curious George marathon and she stared at the screen without emotion.

"Is someone going to do that again," she asked.

"Probably not," I said, "Because now, people are making rules about having things in their houses that could hurt people."

"Good," Olivia said, and she didn't say another word all day.

* * *

Intense chapter, huh? I'm sorry for scaring people like that, but I had that idea in my head for a little bit and thought I could do it in memory of Sandy Hook. The link for Olivia's outfit is in my bio, and I also added her Babyface routine from the pageant.

Chapter 18 Preview: On a more optimistic note, the Lynn family has their first big snow of the winter and starts decorating for Christmas.


	18. The Frosting

** Hi! This is one out of two or three of the Christmas chapters I will be posting. I'm going to be really busy getting ready for Christmas so my updating probably will be really sparatic.**

** Disclaimer: Glee is a registered trademark of Fox Studios, or whatever it is they're calling their company. As a big business, they are inherently evil, but fair is fair, so I'm not allowed to make money using their characters. **

* * *

"Mommy," Olivia cried, jumping on my bed and landing on my stomach, "It's Christmas Eve-Eve! Daddy, wake up. We have so much to do!"

"Olivia," Ryder said, groggily, "It's five thirty in the morning."

"I know," Olivia replied, "I should have woken you up a half an hour ago, but I decided to let you sleep in." She smiled as if she was being so generous. I glanced at Ryder, who collapsed on his pillow.

"It's your turn," Ryder said. I pulled myself out of bed and ran smack into Brooke.

"Oh, jeez," I said, "Sorry Brooke." Olivia's friends from dance slept over last night; because it's the last time they're going to see each other until Olivia's birthday. All the girls except Nia, who is on vacation.

"Sorry I couldn't keep her away. She's very persistent," Brooke said apologetically.

"Oh she's worse on the beach," I said, "You put her down and she runs down the entire length of the beach." Brooke laughed as the other girls trailed out of Olivia's room with tousled hair and wearing matching pajamas, gifts from Abby for winning overall in the last dance competition of the year. Olivia came bounding back into the room, gripping a piece of paper that was at least as tall as she was in her hand.

"This is today's angenda," Olivia said. I raised my eyes.

"Agenda," I corrected, "What does that say honey?" I eyed the paper which, although it had no distinguishable words on it, had several cats on it.

"Everything that we have to do today," She replied. I inwardly groaned.

"Well," I said, "I'm going to give you guys five minutes to decode this. I need to wake up." I stumbled into the kitchen and pushed the crayons strewn across the island into their box.

"Done," Paige said, who had, along with the other girls, magically appeared in front if me.

"Really," I said skeptically. The girls nodded.

"First," Olivia said, "Write letters to Santa."

"Second," Chloe said, "Bake Cookies. And we explained to her how they need to be chilled for six hours. That's why we're starting so early."

"Third," Kendall said, "Decorate the house slash Christmas tree."

"Fourth," Maddie said, "Decorate outside."

"Fifth," Brooke said, "Choreograph our Christmas dance routine."

"Sixth," Mackenzie said, "Finish Christmas cookies."

"Seventh," Paige said, "Perform Christmas dance routine."

"You spent all that time giving out parts," I inferred.

"Yep," Brooke said, glancing at Olivia, who was jumping up and down out of excitement.

"Christmas letters," Olivia said, "Christmas letters, Christmas letters!" I groaned and brought back the crayons and plain paper. The girls bent over their work. Brooke, who had long since abandoned the idea of writing letters to Santa, helped Olivia write her letter, down to the mispronunciation of words.

"I was a very good girl this year," Olivia said, "I worked very hard at dance and in my acting classes and voice lessons. I deserve a lot of presents. I am listing seventy three. You can feel free to pick a minimum of forty two and a maximum of seventy three presents off of the list. The list is as follows." Brookes hand was shaking from laughing so hard as she copied down what Olivia said. Olivia proceeded to list, as she said she would, seventy three things she wanted for Christmas. Most of the list was dolls and dress up clothes and things like that, but she also asked for new tap shoes, a turning board and various other dance related things.

* * *

Eight minutes later, the letters were in the mailbox and the girls scattered themselves around the kitchen, mixing together the ingredients for a triple batch of sugar cookies. Only a couple of the girls were actually baking though. Chloe and Paige were both dedicated to making the cookies. Mackenzie and Brooke were singing into spatulas and spoons along with the Christmas music blasting out of the radio. Maddie and Olivia were making up on the spot routines to the song. If Chloe and Paige were doers, Mackenzie and Brooke were floaters and Maddie and Olivia were goofers (my classification for the attention spans of the girls), then Kendall was a half-floaty goofer. She was horribly dancing and singing along to the music while she mixed together flour and sugar, spilling most of it onto the floor and counter. Ryder trudged into the kitchen.

"What's happening," he said exhaustedly. He took in the chaos of the girls, covered in flour and dancing to _Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree_.

"We're baking," Olivia said innocently, opening her blue eyes wide.

"I can see that," He said, "Who's cleaning this up?" The girls looked at each other.

"Josh," They all said in unison.

"I'm okay with that," Ryder collapsing in a chair. I stifled a laugh in my cup of coffee.

* * *

"What's next," I said, sliding the bowl of cookie dough into the back of fridge.

"Decorating the house and tree," Olivia said excitedly, "Daddy already got up the boxes of stuff. Can we start?"

"Go knock yourselves out," I said, and they ran over to the boxes. Immediately, Olivia was tangled in garland and lights and had a wreath around her neck.

* * *

It took three hours but the house and tree were decorated. Brooke and Paige got into an argument over how to wrap the garland around the banister and Maddie and Chloe fought over how high to hang wreath above the fireplace, but the issues were resolved. The tree had only been knocked over three times before Ryder figured out how to tie it to the wall and it only broke five ornaments, which I consider a great accomplishment. We had to restring the lights twice because we accidentally put the plug at the top, and then one strand didn't work. Olivia had been lifted onto Ryder's shoulders to put the angel on the top of the tree and we were done.

"It looks booitful," Olivia said.

"Beautiful," Four people corrected.

* * *

"I'm cold," Olivia said.

"It was your idea to do this," I said, "We could have just let Daddy and Josh do it like last year."

"Yeah," Olivia said, "Let's go inside."

"We can't," I said, grabbing the pile of electric lights from Brooke and looping them around a rhododendron, "We already started." We had handed out assignments when we started. Brooke, Chloe and I were handling the lights around tall trees. Kendall, Paige and Maddie were standing on ladders hanging icicle lights from the roof, which in hindsight, may not have been the best idea. Olivia and Mackenzie were hanging colored lights off of the shorter bushes and hanging lighted ornaments from trees. Olivia had lost patience when she couldn't reach a majority of the branches and had collapsed in the snow.

"Come on Livia," Paige said, "If Santa sees you moping; he might think you don't want presents this year." This snapped Olivia out of her dispiritedness. She jumped up and grabbed a roll of colored lights and threw them onto a bush. I rolled my eyes.

* * *

"What song are we using for our dance," Chloe asked.

"Remember when Abby gave us all our presents," Brooke said. The girls nodded, "And the moms were all making a huge deal about it. I think they might have had to much-" Brooke glanced at Olivia, "-eggnog to drink before we did that. Anyway, I recorded it on my phone and I added it to the beginning of a song." She hit play, and I was pretty impressed at her use of technology. I tiptoed out of the room, as the girls hadn't known that I had been listening.

"We should wear our pj's from Abby," Mackenzie said excitedly. The others nodded in agreement. I smiled.

* * *

The timer on the microwave went off and I took the cookie dough out of the fridge. I poked my head into the family room, where the girls had pushed all the furniture to the other side of the room to use the wood floor as a dance studio.

"Are you guys ready to do the cookies," I asked.

"Yeah," they replied, getting up and following me into the kitchen. Seven foil covered cookie sheets were lined up on the counter and the island was coated in a thick layer of flour. Kendall dumped the large freezer bag of cookie cutters on to the table.

"You guys made a triple batch, when each batch makes six dozen," I said, exasperatedly, "That's two hundred and sixteen cookies in all. Each of you guys has to do twenty seven cookies if I help." They all lunged for the rolling pins and cookie cutters.

Chloe seemed to be the best at it. She could roll the dough out so it was equal thickness, which nobody else was able to do. Maddie was the next best and let's just say that I did fifty four cookies and Olivia directed. Her favorite cookie cutters were the Santa, the penguin and the dancer.

"Livi," I said, dropping a fist sized ball of cookie dough in front of her and handing her a pink rolling pin, "Why don't you do some by yourself?"

"Okay," she said, happily.

"Marley," Brooke said, looking up at her phone, "My mom said that she's coming at five with pizza and everybody else is coming at five thirty."

"Okay," I replied. By this time I was used to Christi and Kelly creating impromptu parties, and most of the time, I enjoyed them. It looked like this would be one of those times. I glanced at Olivia and immediately snatched the rolling pin away from her. Her cookie dough was now paper thin and was probably stuck to the table, "Great job buddy," I said, "How about you start with the cookie cutters."

"Okay," Olivia said excitedly, grabbing three of them in her hand and shoving them into the dough. I sighed.

* * *

"Can we make a pink?"

"Gimme some!"

"Paige, give me the green knife!"

"I WANT SOME FROSTING!"

"Mom, why are all these girls here?"

"Did you make frosting or buy it? You bought it? Why didn't you make the disgusting sweet stuff? It's so good."

"Pink is amazing!"

"They've been here for over twenty four hours."

"Not that green, the other green!"

You may have been able to figure out who said what. If not, the order was Maddie, Olivia, Brooke, Olivia, Josh, Ryder, Maddie, Josh and Brooke. I heard the doorbell ring and all the girls ran to Olivia's room to get ready for the performance.

"Ryder," I called, putting the last bowl in the dishwasher, "Can you get that?" He opened the door and Kelly and Christi came in with Clara and Josh. The two Josh's were very close, despite the awkward name similarity and they backed each other up when they were severely outnumbered against the girls. Clara and Olivia were, as Olivia would put it, the bestest friends in all of the worlds. Clara started classes at ALDC a couple months ago, but even then, they rarely saw each other because Clara just took classes and Olivia was always in competition rehearsal or high level classes. But whenever Chloe babysat for Olivia, she always brought Clara.

"CLARA," Olivia cried, tearing out of her room, her curly pigtails flying.

"OLIVIA," Clara shouted back, picking her up and swinging her around. Clara is a year older than Olivia and although they are fairly close in age, there is a drastic weight difference. Clara weighs thirty five pounds. Olivia weighs twenty five, but to be expected because of how little she was. She was born four months early and had always been very small.

"Hi mom," Brooke said, the other girls appearing behind her.

"Hey," Kelly said, "We brought pizza."

"Can we do our dance first," Brooke asked, "I don't like to dance on a full stomach." I nodded.

"Brooke," Kelly said, "We could be waiting for two hours for Melissa and Jill because they were shopping." Right on que, the doorbell rang and Melissa and Jill walked in. Mackenzie and Maddie pulled the moms, Clara, Josh and Josh into the family room. Olivia came in dragging Ryder.

"Daddy," Olivia protested, "This is a special Christmas dance just for Christmas!"

"I would assume," Ryder said, sitting on the floor.

"Yay," Olivia said, "You're watching!" I hit the play button on the computer and the voices came on, making everybody snort with disguised laughter. The girls were all lying on top of each other, and they acted like they were just waking up on Christmas morning. The real music started. They had managed to turn a classic Christmas song into a seventies style beach dance in red plaid pajamas. When they finished, everybody clapped, and the girls took a bow. Clara ran up to hug Olivia.

"You're so good," Clara said.

"You too," Olivia replied, hugging her back. Olivia ran over to me and gave me a huge hug.

"Good job buddy," I said.

"It's Christmas Eve-Eve," Olivia replied.

* * *

**Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! I'm really excited for Christmas and my mom keeps getting big boxes in the mail. I'm just in a really good mood. I put a lot of Dance Moms in this, but it just kind of fit in. The link for the dance is in my bio. I'm going to be uploading a Christmas Eve/Christmas chapter soon. Maybe it will be two separate chapters. It depends on how much time I have, which is a lot because I am officially on holiday break! Yay!**

** Chapter 19 Preview: It's Christmas Eve or Christmas for the Lynn family!**


	19. The Snow

** Merry Christmas Eve! This is my Christmas Eve chapter. I think I'm going to have the Christmas chapter up on Christmas because I will have a lot of time during my lovely three hour car ride. Yay me. In my last chapter, I said something about the girls having a sleepover with Olivia because it would be the last time they would see her before her birthday, which I had planned on being on January first. After thinking this over, it made absolutely no sense, because she had just turned three when I started writing this, so ignore that. Her birthday would be around the beginning of October.**

** Disclaimer: Glee is a by-product of Ryan Murphy and Fox Studios. All characters taken from the show are a trademark of Fox and god only knows how many other companies. Any and all original characters portrayed in this fanfic are not to be copied without express permission from the author, under penalty of a stern talkin' to.**

* * *

"Christmas Mommy, Christmas," Olivia said, just as she had every morning since Thanksgiving.

"Tomorrow," I said, pushing Olivia off of my stomach, "Your turn."

"I know," Ryder said, dragging Olivia off the bed.

* * *

I trudged into the kitchen to see Olivia and Ryder covered in flour.

"Did you know that there isn't a single waffle recipe in this entire cookbook," Ryder said.

"Because you just put pancake mix in the waffle iron," I said exasperatedly.

"I told you," Olivia cried, "I told you Daddy! I told you that's what Mommy does! That's why I like it when Mommy makes breakfast. You're not a good chef."

"I don't think Santa's coming this year," Ryder said, collapsing into a chair.

"Ryder," I said, "She's just trying to con you into making waffles. I told her last night that we're having good breakfast tomorrow because it's Christmas," I turned to Olivia, "What do you want instead?"

"Cheerios," she said. I grabbed the box of Honey Nut Cheerios from a high cabinet and dumped a handful sized amount of them onto the kitchen counter, "Can we play in the snow today Daddy?"

"Hey," I said, "What about me?"

"I'm sure you and Santa still have a lot to talk about," Olivia said, "Josh hasn't been on his best behavior. He said that he would say sorry for stealing my doll and he never did."

"In theory," Josh said, looking up from the couch where he had been watching ESPN, "We'll just see if that ever happens. Anyway, have we ever discussed this crazy idea she has in her head? Why would I want any of her dolls? What would I even do with them?"  
"He has a point," Ryder said.

"I'm done with my Cheerios," Olivia said. I looked over. The counter was indeed Cheerio free, "I wanna go outside."

"Okay," Ryder said, helping off of the stool and bringing her to the hallway. He got all of her snow stuff out of the closet and laid them on the floor. He helped her put her coat and boots on.

"What about my snow pants daddy," Olivia asked. Ryder groaned and pulled off her boots and coat. I tried to hide a laugh in my hand, but dismally failed. He finally had gotten her bright pink flower printed snow pants, pink coat and pink fuzzy boots on, and was struggling with the gloves. He looked up at me.

"Please," he said. I kneeled down in front of Olivia and started working the gloves onto her hands, "Her hands are so small," Ryder said.

"I know," I said, putting the pink fleece hat on her head, "Remember, the snow is higher than she is so you have to keep an eye on her."

"Okay," he said. Ryder walked outside, closely followed by Olivia, who as soon as she stepped into the snow, sank above her waist. Ryder pulled her from the snow, and continued through the yard. I smiled and shut the front door.

* * *

"I'm cold Mommy," Olivia cried, shaking off her snow clothes and running into the family room. I wrapped her up in the blanket and hugged her, only to jump back.

"You are cold," I said, hugging her again, "What did you do with Daddy?"

"We threw snow and he pulled me on a sled and built a fort but it fell on me and I got snow down my coat and in my boots," She said, curling up next to me, "I'm gonna see Charley tomorrow!"

"I know," I said, smiling, "Are you excited?"

"Yes," Olivia said loudly. Charley is Olivia's favorite cousin. She is thirteen years old and Olivia's life revolves around her. She is so nice to her and plays with her even though Olivia can be a little crazy. She's Ryder's sister's daughter. We always spend Christmas at his parents' house because there are more people there. My mom is always invited and she usually comes. "We're going to play on the treadmill together." Ryder's mom has a treadmill in the basement which Olivia loves because she uses it as a slide, but every time she goes on it, she always gets hurt. I think Charley blames herself, but Olivia has way too much energy.

"Probably not honey," I said. "You always get hurt on it."

"Can we call Charley," Olivia asked, "I want to talk to her."

"Um," I hesitated, "Sure." I dialed her number on my phone and put it on speaker.

"Hello," Charley said tentatively.

"Hi," Olivia said.

"Is this Olivia," Charley asked.

"Yeah," Olivia replied.

"Hi Charley," I said, "Olivia was dying to talk to you!"

"Do you want to FaceTime," Charley asked. I said yes and hung up. The screen lit up again and I hit accept. Her face appeared on the screen, "Merry Christmas Eve!" Olivia smiled brightly. Behind Charley's dark auburn hair, I saw several more faces.

"Are you with friends," I said, "We can let you go."

"Oh it's okay," Charley said.

"Yeah, it's okay," Olivia said and Charley burst out laughing, along with the girls in the background.

"No, I talk about Olivia all the time and they've been dying to meet her," Charley said, "These are my friends Jaycee, Maisie, Bella and Leah." The girls said hi in turn, "I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"We're gonna open presents together," Olivia said.

"Yep," Charley replied.

"Alright," I said, "I'll let you go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Charley said. The screen went blank and I blocked my ears. Olivia started to sob loudly.

"I. Didn't. Want. Her. To. Go." Olivia said between sobs.

"She was with friends Olivia," I said calmly, "Do you want to watch your video?" I turned my phone back on and went into my bookmarks. I tapped one of the only things that will calm her down. A YouTube video popped up and I hit play. A video of a bouncy house inflating came on. Olivia grabbed the phone and watched the video. Olivia has a strange obsession with bouncy houses. She loves watching them inflate and laughs hysterically when it pops up all of a sudden. She also loves being in them, and having to drag her away from one always evolves into a tantrum. I carefully wiped the tears off her cheeks with my thumb and pulled her close to me.

* * *

"Presents," Olivia cried, "Presents!" I jogged into the family room carrying two wrapped presents. Our annual tradition was to open one present on Christmas Eve. Olivia probably doesn't remember, but I told her that we were going to do it. I handed Josh his present first, because Olivia needs to learn patience. Josh quickly tore the wrapping paper off of his present.

"Oh cool," Josh said enthusiastically, "A new pair of soccer cleats!" Josh had rediscovered soccer. It turns out that he just like indoor soccer a lot better than outdoor soccer. His swim had ended for the season and he needed something to do. A couple of his friends who were in the same boat had asked him to join the team with them and he agreed, to find out that he really liked it. I handed Olivia her present and she tore off the wrapping paper. She uncovered a Jessie doll from Toy Story. She screamed excitedly and frantically tried to rip open the box. Toy Story is Olivia's favorite movie besides Tinkerbell and Jessie was one of the three character dolls she didn't have. She hugged me and ran around the house energetically. Ryder caught her and swung her around.

"Bedtime," Ryder said, "If you don't go to bed soon, Santa won't come!"

"I want to get the cookies for him," Olivia said, "And nine carrots for the reindeer." Olivia carefully carried the plate of Christmas cookies and a glass of milk to the fireplace. The plate was a piece that Olivia had done at Kendall's pottery birthday party. She had picked a plate that looked like Santa. He had been painted with a green beard, purple eyes and had a pink belt buckle, but otherwise, he was pretty accurate. Olivia ran around the room excitedly in her elf pajamas. Ryder picked her up to calm her down.

"When you wake up," I said, "Santa will be here." She ran to her room and sat in front of her bookshelf, "You can pick three books."

"These ones," Olivia said, waving them around. She climbed up on the bed in between Ryder and I. She held out _Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation_, _Snowmen at Christmastime_, and _Merry Christmas Curious George_.

"Okay," I said, thankful that they were short. I opened _Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation_ and began to read. Olivia pointed out all the reindeer in the pictures. I closed the book and handed _Snowmen at Christmastime_ to Ryder. Olivia laughed at all the funny pictures. She handed me _Merry Christmas Curious George_, and I sped through it, wanting to get her to sleep as soon as possible.

"All done," I said, closing the book, "When you wake up, there'll be present's under the tree."

"I have to check if he came yet," Olivia said, jumping off the bed and running downstairs.

"Oh joy," I said, looking at Ryder, "This is going to be a really long night."

* * *

** Merry Christmas Eve! I have so much to do, but I really wanted to write this. It's probably really choppy, but my three year old sister Macy and my six year old sister Lucy are driving me insane. They need to be entertained and we can say that my brother is no help. I'm just really happy that it's almost Christmas! We only have sixty three days until Glee (as of today)! I'm dying.**

** Chapter 20 Preview: Merry Christmas for the Lynn Family.**


	20. The Presents

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! I don't really understand Santa and I think he has too much time on his hands. My little sister's made me really appreciate it. Their joyful screams waking me up at four thirty in the morning were just adding on to this day of joy *sarcasm*.  
Disclaimer: Glee is a registered trademark of Fox Studios, or whatever it is they're calling their company. As a big business, they are inherently evil, but fair is fair, so I'm not allowed to make money using their characters.**

* * *

"Wake up Mommy," Olivia said, "We need to see if Santa came." I rolled over to see what time it was and saw that it was five fifteen.  
"I told you last night," I said exhaustedly, "When you hear your clock start beeping, you can get up."

* * *

I heard a loud beeping from Olivia's bedroom and, glancing at the clock, saw that it was 6:01. I nudged Ryder.  
"If we keep her waiting any longer, she's going to pass out," I said. Ryder said something indistinguishable in response and I nudged him again. Right on que, Olivia tore in, screeching loudly about Santa and reindeer and her new Jessie doll.  
"Olivia," I said quietly, pulling her onto the bed, "You can't go downstairs yet because Josh isn't up. Daddy can go down and get your stocking and we can go through it together." Ryder trudged out the door.  
"Daddy's not a morning person," Olivia said. I nodded in agreement.  
"I got it," Ryder said, reappearing in the room with the red velvet stocking. She unhooked four candy canes from the side and placed them gently on the bed. She pulled more candy from the bag. She next pulled out a package of big hairbows, a Popsicle scented candle, a bracelet with her initial on it and other small toys. Just as Olivia was shoving the last thing back into the stocking, Josh trudged in.  
"Let's do presents," he said sleepily.  
"Yeah," Olivia said loudly.

* * *

Olivia ran downstairs with Ryder Josh and I following slowly behind.  
"Don't touch anything," I called. I heard Olivia squeal.  
"Puffy chairs," she said, talking about the two beanbag chairs. There was a pink one for Olivia and a blue one for Josh and they had their names embroidered on them. Olivia jumped on hers and Josh collapsed onto his, grateful for another place to lie down.  
"No presents until Mommy and I have our coffee," Ryder said. Josh groaned.  
"If we don't go soon, we're going to be late to Grandma's house and Uncle Kevin is going to have a heart attack." I laughed. Uncle Kevin is Ryder's step brother and he loves the potatoes I bring to everybody family parties. Ryder and I have a long running joke that I should only make one serving of them and see his face. We would never dare to actually do it though. I tossed Olivia and Josh each a present. Josh opened up a new soccer ball and Olivia got two pairs of jeans. Ryder groaned.  
"What," I said.  
"Why," he said, "Why must you do this to me. Why skinny jeans." Suddenly his complaints clicked in my mind and I burst out laughing. Our laundry technique is that I do the washing and drying part and Ryder folds the clothes and puts them away, "I can't even fit my arm inside them to turn them right-side out." I rolled my eyes.

* * *

Over the next half hour, Josh got a miniature air hockey table, ear buds, a Steelers hat and sweatshirt, a board game that he had wanted, four books, shin guards, a glow in the dark football, six packs of tennis balls (which he loves even though he doesn't play tennis), a dart board set, pajamas, an iHome and a soccer calendar. Olivia got a sweater, a sweatshirt, a turning board, the ALDC dance wear line, eight picture books, a bracelet with her initial on it, a ballet necklace, the Peas in a Pod from Toy Story, Mr. Pricklepants from Toy Story, various other dolls, tap shoes, pajamas, a Sofia the First and Tinkerbell dress up set, a pink tutu and a huge drawing set.  
"All done," Olivia said disappointedly.  
"Wait," Ryder said, "Didn't Mommy take you guys out yesterday to get each other presents?" They nodded and ran off to get the presents. They returned with small wrapped gifts in hand. Josh's was the only one that looked wrapped. Olivia's looked like she had folded a piece of paper around the box and wrapped a hair tie around it.  
"Olivia," I said, "Give yours first." She handed the gift to Josh. He pulled the hair tie off the paper and gave it back to Olivia. He slipped the paper off and opened the box. He pulled out the complete Steelers 2007-2008 season and a Steelers winter hat and a football ornament.  
"Thanks Livia," Josh said, giving Olivia his present for her. Olivia quickly tore off the wrapping paper and opened to box. She squealed when she saw what he had gotten her. She pulled a huge pink flower hair clip out of the box and stuck in in her hair. She took out two rolls of ribbon in teal and white for her hair. I grabbed them from her before she could completely unravel them. The last thing she pulled out was an ornament. It had two pink sparkly ballet shoes dangling from pink ribbon. Olivia carefully hung the ornament off the tree and ran over to hug Josh.  
"Thank you Joshie," Olivia said.  
"Don't call me Joshie," Josh replied, awkwardly patting her on the back. Ryder pulled a bag out from behind a chair. He handed Josh and Olivia each a rectangular package. Josh ripped off the wrapping paper.  
"YES," Josh shouted. He held up a indoor remote control helicopter, which he had been begging for for years. Olivia carefully pulled off the wrapping paper and shrieked.  
"Yayyayyayyayyayyayyay," Olivia said excitedly. She waved around Dolly the Rag Doll from Toy Story. I looked at Ryder in awe. I hadn't been able to find her anywhere. Olivia ran around the room, narrowly avoiding the tree and several side tables.  
"One more thing," I said, grabbing two large bags from behind the door. I handed one to Josh. He pulled the large square box out of the bag and pulled off the wrapping paper. When he saw what it was, he didn't even speak. His mouth dropped open and he collapsed onto the beanbag, hugging the box.  
"What is it," Olivia said, looking in confusion at Josh rolling around on the floor.  
"Thank. You. So. Much," Josh said, "I've been asking for this forever."  
"What is it," Olivia said urgently, "I don't know how to read."  
"They got me an Xbox 360!" Josh said excitedly. Olivia furrowed her eyebrows.  
"Who has the time to make three hundred sixty different kinds of those," She asked. I laughed.  
"They don't," I said, "They just put the number to make it sound expensive."  
"Thank you so much," Josh said again. I handed him another small box. He opened it to see Call of Duty: Ghosts.  
"Ooh," Olivia said, "You gave in." I don't like Call of Duty. I think it's stupid and too violent, but it was Ryder's favorite game in high school, so I agreed. I gave Olivia her box. She ripped off the wrapping paper and gaped at what it revealed. She started to scream. I smiled. Ryder covered his ears and Josh was still hugging the Xbox. She started waving around an iPad. Josh looked up.  
"May I ask why you got a three year old an iPad," Josh asked.  
"Because," I said, "Now that she's homeschooled, she has to come to work with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because she doesn't have all day dance and she needs stuff to do."  
"So you got that for her to keep her entertained," Josh said.  
"Isn't that why I got you the Xbox," I shot back.  
"Touché," he replied.

* * *

"Honey, can you please put your dress on," I begged Olivia.  
"No," Olivia said stubbornly. I groaned.  
"Why not," I asked.  
"Because," Olivia said, "I want to do it myself." I gave her the sweater dress and watched her try to pull the dress on. She first put it in backwards, and once she fixed it, she couldn't reach the buttons on the back. She had to take her arms out of the sleeves to button it, but then it was too tight, and she couldn't twist her arms the right way to pull them back in.  
"Help Mommy," Olivia said. I unbutton the back and fixed the dress, "I wanna finish." She grabbed the sparkly tights and pulled them onto her feet.  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," I said.  
"Mommy," Olivia said, "You said I could do it myself."  
"Please let me say something," I said, removing her tights, "If you want to put on the tights, you have to take your socks off first." I pulled off her red and green striped socks. She put her tights back on and stood up. She started jumping around like a crazy person to pull up the tights, only resulting in tripping herself. I caught her just before she fell face first on her bedroom carpet. I sat her down on the floor and help her with her tights. She grabbed her white furry boots. She had picked them out herself and they had white bows on the sides. She pulled them on. At first I thought that she had finally put something on all by herself, but then I saw that she had put them on the wrong feet.

* * *

"We're here Daddy," Olivia said excitedly as we pulled into the driveway.  
"I know Livi," Ryder replied, "I've been driving the whole way here." Olivia started to try to unbuckle herself before the car even stopped. Of course, being three, it took until I could get up and unbuckle her myself to get her out of the car. Ryder picked her up so she wouldn't run into the street.  
"Josh," I said loudly, grabbing the potatoes out of the car. He looked up from his phone and pulled his new earbuds out of his ears, "We're here. Can you grab the presents." He nodded and grabbed the paper bag of presents for everybody. The four of us walked to the front door. The door flew open and we were greeted by Olivia and Josh's seven year old cousins Josie and Nick.  
"Hi Olivia," Josie said.  
"Hi hi," Olivia said excitedly. We walked into the kitchen, "Hi Grandma," Olivia cried. Ryder's mom Maureen came over to us.  
"Hi Liv," she said, "Hi Ryder. Hi Marley. Where's Josh." I heard a bang and saw that Josh had walked into the wall. He had been looking at his phone screen and not where he had been walking. I rolled my eyes.  
"You know what Abby would say about this," Olivia said.  
"What," I asked, already knowing the answer.  
"This kid doesn't have a brain in his head," she replied and I nodded in agreement. My Mom walked over.  
"Hi Livi," she said, giving her a hug, "Did Santa come last night."  
"Yes," Olivia said happily, "He brought me everything I wanted."  
"That's great," Mom said smiling. She looked over to me, "How are you honey? I haven't seen you in a while."  
"I've been good. I've been helping Liv get over the incident at school," I replied. My mom was the first person to call to make sure Olivia was okay after the John Adams School Shooting.  
"How is she," Mom asked, sounding concerned.  
"It's gotten better," I said, "She still asks some questions about it, but she's recovering. It got a lot easier around Christmas."  
"Good," she replied.  
"CHARLEY," Olivia screeched. Ryder quickly put her down as Charley walked through the front door. She ran and gave her a huge hug. I smiled and Charley's mother laughed. Charley picked her up.  
"Merry Christmas Liv," Charley said.

* * *

For the next hour, I didn't see either of my children. I knew Josh was running around outside with the older kids. Kyle and James were brothers and Kyle was Josh's age and James was ten. Drew was Charley's eleven year old brother. The four of them went down to the lake to throw rocks and catch nonexistent fish and now they are climbing through the thick bushes in the backyard to get to the old, dilapidated basketball court in the woods, despite the three feet of snow.  
The younger kids: Olivia, Josie, and Nick, plus the other three year old Sadie and her one year old sister Chloe and the other baby Aubrey were playing hide and seek and other quiet games with Charley and my sister-in-law's father Peter. Grandpa Pete, like my mother, who although is just a second grandparent, comes to all the family events and everybody loves him.  
Ryder was sitting on the couch with his step brothers watching the football game. Ryder's parents got divorced during our first year of college. His mother got remarried a year later to a man who already had full custody of five kids. Olivia and Josh really don't consider them step aunts, uncles, grandparents or cousins though, because for them, they've always been here. Ryder does have a biological younger brother and sister. His brother lives in California and we rarely see him, but his sister Julia comes to everything. Kyle and James are her sons.  
I was standing in the kitchen helping get ready for dinner with my mom, Ryder's mom and all of the women: Cathy, Ally, Julia, Leah and Danielle. The Josh and the other boys came in, taking off their snow covered shoes and coats and dropping them into the designated floor space next to the doormat.  
"Could you guys get the kids upstairs," Julia asked, "We want to do presents before dinner this year." They nodded and ran upstairs. A minute later, I heard the crash and saw Olivia, Josie, Nick and Sadie run down the stairs, with Charley close behind. Grandpa Pete came slowly followed, helping the babies down.  
"Who's going to be Santa this year," Ryder's mom asked.  
"Charley," Olivia and Josie said at the same time.  
"What," Charley said, "Oh, I'm caught up now. I'll be Santa."  
"Wait," Maureen said, "We need to wait until Auntie Meggie gets here." Meghan was Ryder's youngest step-sister. Chloe was her daughter, but somebody else brought her so Meghan could have a little break.  
"Lets play Guess Who," Charley suggested.  
"I wanna be on Sadie and Livi's team," Josie said.  
"Okay," Nick said, "Charley and I are going to beat you. We're older." They argued in this way for five minutes. They never actually got to play because Meghan walked in the front door with her husband Richard.  
"Presents," Josie screeched. All the adults walked over to watch. Charley handed everybody present. Olivia opened the gift from my mother and saw five stuffed animals. They were all the animals from Sofia the First: Whatnaught the Squirrel, Minimus the Pegasus, Clover the Rabbit, Mia the Bluebird, and Robin the Robin. Olivia ran over to my mom and gave her a hug. Josh got a book filled with amazing action shots in sports. He seemed genuinely interested in it because he likes photography. From Maureen, Olivia got a bracelet with her name spelled out in cubed beads and in between each bead was her birthstone. Josh got a soccer ball that when you kicked it, detected the speed. Olivia also got several dress up sets, two dolls, the new Toy Story movie and several other things from her aunts and uncles. Josh got mostly books and gift cards, because once you get to a certain age, you're hard to buy for.

* * *

"Dinner," Somebody called. Everybody walked to the kitchen. I made Olivia a plate of food and placed it at Olivia's chair at the kids table. She was in between Josie and Charley. I saw her pick up her fork and start to eat.

* * *

We had gotten home at eight and Olivia unfortunately hadn't fallen asleep in the car. I had brought her upstairs and gotten her ready for bed while Ryder and Josh tried of set up the Xbox.  
"How was your Christmas," I asked her.  
"Perfect," Olivia replied.

* * *

**Merry late Christmas! I got an iPad. If there are any typos, blame autocorrect. So all the family members are really confusing. They went to Ryder's parents house for Christmas, but Marley's mom was there. Ryder's mom is Maureen and his step-dad is Mark. Ryder's biological siblings are Matt and Julia. Julia is married to Nathan and their kids are James (10) and Kyle (13). Mark's kids are Leah, Kevin, Danielle and Meghan. Leah doesn't have any kids. Kevin is married to Ally and their kids are Sadie (3) and Aubrey (1). Danielle's ex-husband is Rick and now she's engaged to Jeff. Her kids are Josie (7) and Nick (7). Meghan is married to Richard and their daughter is Chloe (1). Grandpa Dave is Ally's father.  
The link for Olivia's outfit is in my bio.  
Chapter 21 Preview: Olivia goes back to dance and is greeted by an unwanted visitor.**


	21. The Rehearsal

**The depression is kicking in. I only have one day of vacation left. My birthday is today. I already know my sisters are making me cards or something because I can smell the paint from my room. The fumes are giving me a headache.  
Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy continues not to accept my continuing requests to please, please let me possess his soul and some more scripts. However, he is evil, and so of course, he doesn't let me. So now I will sort all of his characters, and the only thing he can do is sue me! MWAHAHA! What does it matter that he owns Glee, and I don't? No disrespect intended, just a bunch of nonsense. Continue with your continuation of reading. Thank you.**

* * *

"Dance," Olivia cried, "Let's go. I don't want to be late." Olivia's dance is starting up again, regardless of New Year's Eve and Day. She was jumping up and down.  
"Please," Josh said, "Take her away. She's annoying."  
"Let's go," Olivia said urgently.

* * *

We pulled into the parking lot of the Abby Lee Dance Company at the same time as Melissa. Olivia jumped out of the car and hugged the girls.  
"Are you okay," Melissa said, referring to the incident at school. Olivia nodded and gave Melissa a hug. The girls ran into the studio hand in hand. Melissa and I followed them, climbing the stairs to the watch room, "I heard there is going to be a guest dancer for the week. If it's going to be like Sophia or Asia, Christi and Kelly will chase them off by next week." We reached the room and I stopped in my tracks. Kitty was sitting in between Christi and Jill. Christi was glaring at her and Kelly was pointedly looking in the other direction.  
"Oh look," Kitty said, "It's Mike and Molly's daughter." I looked through the plexiglass and saw Madison warming up with Olivia and all the other girls.  
"Hi Kitty," I replied. I spun around and walked back down the stairs. Jill and Melissa followed me.  
"How do you know her," Melissa asked.  
"We went to high school together," I replied, "She was horrible to me from the minute I met her. She was a little better when she started dating this guy named Artie but he broke up with her when he went to college and she got mean again. She's been awful ever since I saw her at the reunion. She keeps insulting me and the kids and Ryder and I she won't stop." At that point, my eyes were filling with tears and I has choking over my words.  
"It's okay," Melissa said.  
"Can't you call your friend who came in October," suggested Jill, "Santana?" I nodded and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I hit her number and heard it ring.  
"Hey," Santana said, "What's up."  
"Kitty's here," I said.  
"What," Santana said, "Why!"  
"I don't know," I replied, "But she's already insulting me. Christi and Kelly are trying to get rid of her, but I don't think it's going well."  
"I'll be over in ten minutes," Santana said, "It's probably best for me to avoid any contact with Abby." I nodded, but remembered that she couldn't see me.  
"Yeah," I said.  
"Just try to deal with it," Santana said, "I'll be there soon." We hung up and followed Jill and Melissa into Studio C for pyramid. I expected to see an extra picture at the bottom but the regular eight were there. We went through the pyramid. As it usually is, Brooke, Paige, Nia were on the bottom, with the addition of Chloe, who's mother had done something obnoxious that nobody really remembered. Mackenzie, Olivia and Kendall were in the middle and Maddie was at the top.  
"This week we will be attending Nuvo dance competition right here in Pittsburg Pennsylvania," Abby said, "Olivia, Mackenzie and Maddie will all have solos. Maddie, your solo is called Birthday. Mackenzie, your solo is called Red. Olivia, you were the only one to schedule a private with me during the break, and just from that you improved quicker than anyone I have ever seen. I'm giving you a lyrical solo to the song I Will Always Love You. Mackenzie and Olivia are doing a duet called Two Sapphires."  
"Abby," Holly said, "You're saying that five of these girls aren't going to do anything all week."  
"Holly, if you would let me finish, I would have said that all the numbers except Olivia's solo are going to be choreographed by the girls. Gianna will help, but I won't see the numbers until the competition." The girls mouths dropped and the moms immediately started protesting. For once, I actually had something to say.  
"I don't understand why Olivia is the only one getting choreographed by a teacher," I said.  
"I agree," Holly said, "I think that Olivia is fully capable of learning choreography from the girls."  
"Enough of this insanity," Abby said, "I need to start rehearsal. Everybody out." As we left, I heard Abby say, "You need to learn to control your mothers."  
"So," Kitty said slowly, "I'm expecting that your daughter is treated exactly how you were in Glee Club. Automatically she's been told how great she is and she has a solo."  
"Ok," Christi said, "I'm not really sure where you're from, but here, we try to avoid taking about the kids." Melissa rolled her eyes.  
"Sure," Melissa said, "You know, except for Maddie."  
"Oh come on Melissa," Kelly said, "It's not about Maddie right now. Olivia is an amazing dancer and it's true what Abby said. Olivia was the only one to come to the studio during break. Maddie didn't. None of us did except Olivia, but Maddie is still at the top of the pyramid and she has a solo and so does Mackenzie and all of our kids are at the bottom of the pyramid."  
"In my opinion," Holly said, "Olivia should have been at the top of the pyramid." Jill rolled her eyes.

* * *

I watched as Mackenzie and Olivia were directed by the other girls to run different parts of the dance. I was still trying to figure out why Madison was even here. She was an okay dancer, but she didn't compare to Maddie or Chloe, and she was flexible, but not as flexible as Brooke or Olivia. I think Abby knew that and she didn't put her in any routines. I will give her the credit for actually having good ideas for the routines. Olivia loved working with Madison, as she was the only girl who already knew her. They had gotten to know each other at the reunion and saw each other at the pageant. They were pretty good friends. I watched Madison helping Olivia with her over splits. I cringed at how flexible she was. Abby pushed open the door.  
"Everybody but Olivia needs to go to class," Abby said, "Olivia, it's time for your solo rehearsal. Madison, you can stay here if you want or you could go to one of the girls classes." The girls walked out of various doors to their classes. Olivia got up off the floor and stood in the middle of the studio, ready for the music to start.

* * *

"Take a water break," Abby said. The two girls left the room. Kitty got up and walked down the stairs. I didn't question it until Santana came up five minutes later, glancing behind her.  
"Hey," She said, "I just heard Kitty talking to Madison."  
"Okay," I said, confused at the importance of this.  
"No, she was telling her to do bad choreography for Olivia so she wouldn't win,"Santana explained. My eyes widened. I stood up and followed Santana back downstairs. I felt the other moms eyes on me.  
"Kitty," I said quietly, because I didn't want to sink to the other moms level and make a huge scene in the middle do the dance studio, "Why did you say that to her."  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kitty said, spinning around to face me.  
"You told Madison to do bad choreography so Olivia would lose the competition," Santana said, "I heard you."  
"Why would you she do that," Olivia asked. We spun around, "I thought Madison was my friend." Nobody knew what to say. The look on Kitty's face was almost remorseful. I knew that she didn't think Madison would ever do it.  
"What's going on," Abby said, poking her head through the door. I begged that Olivia wouldn't tell Abby what had just happened As much as I disliked Kitty, I didn't want Madison to get kicked out.  
"Nothing," I said quickly.  
"Well then, Olivia come back in. We don't have long until the competition." Olivia followed Abby back into the studio.  
"Why," I asked again.  
"She needed to be knocked down a peg," Kitty said, shrugging.  
"Why does that mean humiliating her at a dance competition," Santana asked, "And why are you here anyway?"  
"I wanted Madison to experience everything," Kitty said, "And if that means getting a dig at you at the same time then all the better. Anyway, Madison said she wouldn't do bad choreography anyway. She likes Olivia. We're leaving at the end of the week, so it didn't matter what we did."  
"It does though," I said, "Olivia might not trust Madison again."  
"Who cares," Kitty said, "Like I said, we're going back to Florida after the competition."  
"I care because Madison is Olivia's friend," I said, "Don't you remember how you felt when Artie left? He was gone, but you still cared."  
"Don't even mention it," Kitty said defensively, "It was twenty years ago."  
"I think you still care a little bit though," I said.  
"You have no idea what I think," Kitty said, walking away.

* * *

**So I was kind of tired when I wrote this. I went to a New Years Eve party last night and when I came back I was high on sugar and caffeine so that's where this came from. To remind everybody, Madison is Kitty's eight year old daughter.  
In honor of 2014, I'm doing random shoutouts.  
gleefullyannie123  
Photogirl5  
RatauraGleeNiffR5  
MariBelBC  
SincerelyYourSecret  
fluteprincess95  
The Inked Pen  
marceltheshellwiththeshoeson  
TeaAndGlee  
Thank you everybody who followed and favorited and I love you so much. Good luck in 2014 everybody and Happy New Year.  
Chapter 22 Preview: It's Josh's fourteenth birthday!**


End file.
